Beyond All Reason
by ChampMgGee
Summary: Lucy is an average girl living in California, that is until one day she is transported to the magical land of Fiore! Here science is a myth and magic is normal! Will Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail be able to get her back home? But what happens if feelings develop along the way? NaLu adventure!
1. To Magnolia!

**Lucy is an average girl living in california until one day she is transported to the magical land of Fiore where science is a myth and magic is normal! Will Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail be able to get her back home? NaLu adventure!**

**This is my first fic so reviews would be greatly appreciated! Constructive criticism welcome!**

**Thanks for reading and copyrights to go Hiro Mashima**

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"Lucyyy! Come on we're almost there!"

"But Tianaaa, i'm tired and don't wanna be here anyways." Lucy moaned as she paused for a moment to readjust the straps to the heavy backpacking supplies on her back. "We haven't gone on field trips since elementary school and now they just expect us to be excited and on top of that, isolating ourselves in the woods with people we don't like?" Tiana smiled and rolled her large blue eyes at Lucy, and Kiera simply responding with a small laugh.

"Don't fall behind you three!" A voice shouted from far ahead.

"Coming Mr. Hamun!" Tiana hollered back.

Kiera gave lucy a small nudge and the three hustled along to catch up with the rest of their plant science class as Mr. Hamun ranted on about the Sequoia trees that engulfed them."...Or more commonly known as redwood trees they actually only along our local coastal lines here in California and a little northward..."

"So Lucy, you haven't said a word about how Adrian asked you to prom last week" Kiera teased. "I mean _**I **_thought we were all friends here, but I guess I was mistaken" she pretended to compress a sob.

"...of course not to be confused with sequoiadendron or..."

Lucy let out a large groan and gave a slight shake of her head. "Because it's embarrassing and I was hoping neither of you would find out about it!"

"Pfft well that was a dumb plan, the whole school knows." Tiana scoffed.

"...and even though these magnificent creatures are so well known they are endangered! Can you believe that?!"

"Well I guess I know that now!" Lucy sneered at Tiana but was overheard by Mr. Hamun in the front.

"It's great to see you're finally taking an interest in things Lucy! Now let's set forth onto our campsite!" He called back, mistaking her frustration for enthusiasm. Lucy gave an exasperated sigh and then a stubborn side glance to her friends to indicate that their conversation was over, as they struggled to keep up with their teachers over enthusiastic pace towards the camp site.

_It's not like it's a big deal he asked me, so why is everyone freaking out? _She thought to herself. _All this means is that I am being forced to buy a dress, new makeup, shoes, a boutonniere for his tux, buy a ticket, and pay for the limo. Ahhh! Maybe agreeing to go wasn't the best-_

Her thoughts were interrupted as she bumped into a solid figure in front of her.

"Whoah Luce! So deep in thought you're forgetting to look where you're going again!" _Adrian._He stood solid in front of Lucy, placing his hands on his hips and giving her a genuine wide grin.

She returned the gesture with a small smile. "Haha yes I know, just day dreaming again I guess!" She looked around to her class all mingling in an open area under the large trees, unsure of where her friends went. The light through the tall trees gave everyone an orange tint because of the setting sun. "So why'd we stop? It's already getting dark so we should hurry, right?" She looked back up to Adrian who gave a hearty laugh.

"We stopped because this is where we're staying! Hey I think your friends are trying to get your attention." He pointed over her shoulder to where Kiera and Tiana were waving their arms and indicating her to come over.

"Oh, thanks." She gave him a small smile and began to walk away when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait! Lucy! I was thinking that maybe you would want to sit next to me at the campfire later? We could roast marshmallows together?" With a realization his hand was still on her shoulder he quickly retracted it and ruffled his hair, avoiding her eyes in embarrassment. "Well that is if you want to, unless you're sitting with Kiera or Tiana which I totally understand so-"

"Sure, Adrian. See you then!" Lucy continued to her friends and let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She gave a quick sneak peek over her shoulder to Adrian, whose large grin had returned as he went off to his friends. By the time Lucy reached Kiera and Tiana, they seemed to be boiling over in questions.

"What was THAT about!?" Kiera gave a poke to Lucy's side with a sly smile.

"I'm telling you that I predict a future couple here." Tiana added, unrolling her sleeping bag against the base of the tree that signaled the end of the camp site.

"No one is a couple, and it was him simply asking if we could sit next to each other when everyone roasts marshmallows later. Nothing to get excited about." But even as Lucy said these words, she couldn't repress the slight blush on her face. Quickly changing the subject, lucy noted how they were slightly farther away from the campfire than everyone else. "Why are we so far away? I feel isolated and anti-social." She set down her pack next to Kieras, but wanted to give her shoulders a rest first before unpacking.

"Sydney has been a little heavy on the teasing side today, so we wanted to steer clear of her, and the best way to do that is to avoid everyone all-together since she thinks she has ownership rights."

"That's understandable I guess." Lucy glanced over to Sydney just as she placed a hand on Adrian's upper arm and with the other hand tucked her long red hair behind her ear. _She must've asked him for help with her sleeping bag since he's unfolding it. _Adrian looked over and saw Lucy staring at them and gave her an eager wave, obviously unaware of Sydney's forward attempts. Lucy gave a small laugh and waved back. _Clueless good-hearted fool._

"All right! Since we were so caught up in nature I need everyone to take on a job before the sun sets!" Mr. Hamun shouted across the large group, indicating for everyones attention. "If you'll look inside your bags you'll see a clue to what type of job you'll be doing! Quickly accomplish it and then we can all eat and relax and have fun!" All the students groaned and looked to their bags as quick chatter arose about what type of job everyone had.

"Ughhh all these food packets mean cooking for this horrible mob. Wait! I HOLD THE POWER! HAPPY HUNGER GAMES!" Kiera gave a maniacal laugh until Tiana roughly put a hand on her mouth to quiet her.

"Will you stop yelling? Your fandom references are giving me a headache." Tiana pulled out more cooking packets similar to Kiera's. "Well cooking for me too I guess. What'd you get, Lucy?"

Lucy didn't even have to open her bag to know that she had been assigned water duty since she had been handed a large bucket to attack to her bag at the beginning of the trip. "Water duty. Therefore it is I who really holds the power since you guys need my water to cook the nasty insta-food." Lucy stood up and unhooked her bucket, looking around the class to see who else had been assigned to water duty so she wouldn't have to go alone. Her face instantly dropped as she saw Sydney and her obnoxious posse arguing with Mr. Hamun in what looked like an attempt to get out of water duty. They were turned away with angry faces.

_Nope. Nope. Who wears white booty shorts camping anyways? _Lucy turned towards the woods and started walking, having no idea where a river would be anyways. _We passed over one on the way here I think, but I don't exactly want to walk that far back..._Lucy walked steadily as nightfall started to fall, briskly searching for water since she had no intention of being lost in the woods at night. Finally, she managed to find a small creek and filled up the large bucket, which would significantly lengthen the trip back to camp as she tried to spill as little of water as possible. Her mind started to wander and daydream again, thinking of far off lands and her future.

_Maybe Europe? Hmm but that seems too familiar. _She thought, contemplating careers of teaching overseas. _Asia is always exciting, so maybe Japan? No... Maybe a little less modernized. India? I hear it's not very good for women to go there right now. OH! Maybe Thailand where I hear some of __the fruits are so exotic and bright, like that bright orange coming from over-_Lucy stopped, realizing large orange lights don't just occur in the middle of the night in the forest. _Orange light means fire! Of course I wouldn't be able to see the smoke in the middle of the night! Oh gosh! Kiera! Tiana!_

Lucy bursted out into a full on sprint, only able to hope that maybe the others were not the cause of the fire, or that they had seen another one and evacuated in time. Surrounded in her own thoughts, she wasn't paying attention to where she was stepping and tripped over a medium size branch, thus spilling the remains of the water all over her and the ground which she forgot she had been carrying. Lucy scrambled to stand up and continue on, ignoring the cuts and mud all over the front side of her body, and leaving the bucket behind her. As she pumped her arms to keep going towards the light, her instincts were telling her to turn around and go the other way, but all she could think about is if her friends were alright.

Suddenly Lucy seemed to finally confront the fire, and the heat became intense as heavy sweat started to form on her body. Braving the situation that her friends might be in there, she carefully took the safest root into the danger, as her lungs slowly began to feel the effects of the smoke. Lucy kept running, until seeing a backpack on the ground that had only slight burns on it but no real damage. As she picked up the backpack she realized it was none other than her own, and the campsite that held all of her classmates only about an hour ago was now vacant and up in flames. With the underlying danger that her friends were in trouble, Lucy realized that no one knew where she had went, or that she had come back. Panic started to strike as her lungs seemed to be taking in less and less air, and she was starting to become confused of which way the trail was. She decided the best idea was to try to head back to the river, wherever that may be.

_I'm not going to make it!_Lucy's fears started to surface as she noticed her body slowing down from exhaustion. The heat and smoke was starting to get to her, and her vision was starting to become less focused by the minute. She pushed on, the heavy backpack weighing her down. When Lucy's mind seemed to be collapsing in on herself, a moment of clarity occurred when she finally saw the shimmering image of water. _Okay, stay calm. You've reached water. now just follow it down and eventually you will find civilization. I should have paid attention when they told us how large this Redwood reservation is. Hopefully small right? Kiera and Tiana are aware i'm gone and they know theres a fire out here... Help is on the way, Lucy! Don't give up!_

At least these were the reassuring thoughts she had until she reached the edge of the cliff and there was no safe way down. _Okay, well I can go left which is...fire. Or I can go right, which is...more fire. _Lucy peered over the edge to see how far a jump would be down to the ground. _Out of the question. That has to be at least 40 feet which would break both my legs. Think, Lucy! Think!_

But she was out of time to try and figure out a plan as Lucy started to hear the cracking of a particularly large redwood tree behind her that was burning brightly. She looked up to the tree which was starting to give away at it's base and fall, which she was in extreme danger of being crushed. Lucy quickly looked at the base of where the small waterfall was pouring down into the river, trying to calculate how deep it was.

_CRACK_

She jumped. Hitting the cold water was like a thousand sharp needles hitting her skin, all the air from her lungs being forced out of her due to the impact. The cuts on the front side of her body stung, and the backpack felt like a million pounds, weighing her down to the bottom. Her lungs were bursting as they craved air, and as Lucy gave out an involuntary gasp, water flooded the inside of her as well. Lucy forced her eyes open in one last attempt to try to see which direction was the surface, but another involuntary gasp escaped her, forcing her to swallow more water. Her spirit had been compromised, and all Lucy was able to do was look at the dark sky through the water.

_Even from these deep dark depths at night, the stars shine so brightly._

* * *

**MAGNOLIA**

"What'd you say, ice princess?!" Natsu snapped his head to the side, throwing his backpack on the ground.

"I SAID, that if you hadn't destroyed half the town then maybe we would have walked away from that month long mission with maybe even SOME of the reward! But NOOOOO you're such a hot head that you can't control your fire even when it comes down to other people being able to get money to eat!" Gray responded, in turn also throwing down his backpack and taking a few steps towards Natsu.

"You itchin' to fight!?" Natsu clenched his fists and stepped closer to Gray.

"That's the only thing you know how to do any you still can't even do it right!" The two men were now head to head, seconds away from brawling.

"That's enough!" Erza yelled, sitting over on her side of the campfire, rubbing her temples. She was tired after a long mission, and now with no reward, she was in no mood for the two's regular bickering. "We're all tired, so we should just get some rest. We'll be back at the guild tomorrow, so save your fighting until-"

_BOOM_

"What the heck was that?" Gray looked around, suddenly missing a shirt.

"Happy, you have one heck of a stomach!" Natsu laughed turning to the small blue cat that was sitting under a tree and eating a fish.

"That wasn't me, Natsu..." He replied, putting his fish down.

"It sounded like it came from the river. Let's go check it out. Happy, you stay here and watch the camp. Natsu, Gray, let's go. And be on guard." Erza held one sword ready to strike as she set out towards the river with the two others in tow, also on their guard.

Erza indicated to stay hidden behind the trees while they looked around their surroundings.

"I don't see anything, maybe we were mistaken." Gray whispered.

"There's someone hurt!" Natsu ran out towards the figure that had been washed up on the side of the river, leaving Erza and Gray behind.

"Natsu! What did I just- Oh never mind, come on Gray. He hasn't been attacked yet so we're probably alright." Erza walked out to where Natsu was crouching as he turned the figure over to see the unconscious face of Lucy.

"Hey she's kinda cute, even for a person scratched, burned, and covered in mud." Natsu thought aloud, wiping some of the mud from her face.

"Let's take her back to camp with us and maybe when she wakes up tomorrow we can find out what happened." Erza said as Gray walked over with a wet backpack in hand.

"This is probably hers as well and she might want it when she wakes up. I'm too tired to find out what that sound was, so let's go back before it happens again."

Natsu carefully took hold of Lucy's body and followed behind Gray and Erza, occasionally sneaking a glance down at her face, noting for someone who had been washed up in the river, she looked like she was simply in a peaceful sleep.

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**A/N: Wooo so there it is! I know it's long, but I really just wanted to get Lucy into Magnolia and set up the base for the rest of the story. I doubt the rest of the chapters will be that long. No promises on when the next chapter will be up, but hey if people like this one then maybe in a week?**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. The Guild

**So this chapter ended up being a little longer than I expected, whoops! But thanks for reading! **

**I don't own stuff!**

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Lucy realized her mistake only moments too late as she let out a small groan of pain as she rolled from one side to the other inside the cozy sleeping bag. This unconscious decision led to her awake, but letting her stubborn sleeping habits take over, she refused to open her eyes just yet.

_Stupid birds with their chirping and morning attitudes. _She thought. _Don't they understand that camping is exhausting and requires more sleep to make up for the loss of energy?_Lucy shifted again, wincing in pain. _This sleeping-on-the-ground thing isn't really working out, nature. ...Nature? NATURE!_

Lucy's eyes sprung open as she looked up through the opening of the green leaves above to the morning sky, feeling conflicted about what she was seeing.

_So it was all a dream? But it felt so real... _She sighed with relief. _My friends are okay and we get to go home today and when I get home I am gonna- _Her happy thoughts and smile faded as she looked to her left where she assumed her friends were asleep next to her, only to find a strange boy sleeping against a tree about two feet away, arms folded, halfway out of his sleeping bag. _KIDNAPPED! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED!_As panic struck, Lucy automatically started to race for the zipper on the sleeping bag, making the process more clumsy and noiseful than necessary.

Finally out, lucy stood up and looked down at herself, surprised to discover what she found. She was dirty, smelled of smoke, and was covered in bandage wraps she knew were not her known, and seemed to be wearing an entirely different set of clothing.

Ignoring the idea that someone had to have removed her clothing to change her, she began to survey the camp and her surroundings. There seemed to be two other figures still asleep besides the boy directly next to her, each on one side of a fire pit. On the other side of the pit she saw her bag at the base of the tree directly next to theirs, thankful that she might be able to get away and call someone with her cellphone. She saw no weapons out in the open, which only made her worry that there might be concealed handguns elsewhere.

She slowly began to tiptoe over to the bags, careful not to step on any twigs or branches that might wake the figures up. As she passed behind one of them she paused to look him over. Limbs sprawled inside the half open sleeping bag was another boy with black hair. His mouth was wide open producing a fairly loud snore, and he was shirtless, letting Lucy notice a strange tattoo on his chest which she couldn't quite figure out what it was. Continuing on, she reached her pack and began rustling through it, desperate to find her cellphone.

_Come on, come onnnnnn!_

"Cool you're awake!" Lucy froze and slowly turned her head up towards the voice, finding the boy standing over her shoulder who had been sleeping at the base of the tree. He took a bite of some dried beef with one hand and had the other placed on his hip. He stood with a large smile on his face. The shock of the voice made Lucy realize she hadn't heard what he said.

"Feeling better I suppose? Do you want some dried beef?" He offered out a piece to her. Lucy stood up and faced the man gently taking the food.

"I'm sorry... I don't understand what you're saying..." She looked down to the ground, avoiding his eyes.

The boys eyes widened for a moment, realizing the language barrier between them. He calmly placed a hand on her shoulder, surprising Lucy as her eyes met his, causing her to blush. "You can't understand what I'm saying, can you?"

Lucy stood there confused, trying to figure out what language he could possibly be speaking. "I'm sorry but I don't understand!"

The man took this as an affirmation of something obviously and receded his hand from her shoulder and pointing to his chest. "Natsu." The shock was beginning to wear off of Lucy as she finally took in the overall appearance of him. He wore open toed sandals, baggy pants that reminded her of the movie Aladdin, and a vest with no shirt underneath, exposing a set of well defined abs. His hair however was what shocked her most of all. Instincts taking over, Lucy instantly stepped closer to the man and reached up to his pink hair, feeling the texture between her fingers trying to distinguish if it was real.

He instantly blushed and took a step back, bringing Lucy back into reality. She realized what she had been doing and blushed as well.

_So the hair is real. But then again so are the abs. No! Bad Lucy! They're kidnappers! He even has the same gang sign on his arm as the other guy had on his chest!_

He pointed at his chest once again, saying the word louder this time. "NATSU."

Lucy understood the gesture this time and copied him. "Lucy."

"Oi! Erza, Gray, wake up! The girl is awake!" He hollered over his shoulder. As the other two yawned and started to get out of their sleeping bags, Lucy turned back down to her backpack and resumed the search for her cellphone. Finally locating it, she pulled it out with a smile. "Say, where's Happy?"

Almost on cue, the small blue cat flew up from the bundle of bags, startling Lucy so that as she fell backwards, she accidentally threw the phone behind her with one hand and threw the piece of meat at the cat with the other. "What was that for?" The cat rubbed it's nose where it had been hit.

Lucy's eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing. "What type of cat can fly and talk!?" She looked to Natsu for an answer.

Oblivious to Lucy's concerns, Natsu just smiled, ate the rest of his beef in one bite, and pointed at the blue cat. "Happy!"

"Aye, Sir!" he responded.

Lucy stood up and brushed the leaves and dirt off of her clothes turning to the sight of the black haired man in only boxers inspecting her cell phone. "What is this supposed to be?" He said, turning it over.

Lucy hesitantly held her hand out indicating for the phone back as Natsu pointed at the black haired man and said, "stripper."

Unsure of what was going on, the man roughly placed the cellphone back in Lucy's hands and pointed back at Natsu. "Flame-brain."

"Droopy eyes!"

"SLANTY EYES!"

"That's enough." A tall, armored woman with long red hair walked up in between the two, dismantling their argument. "Gray, your clothes."

"What the?!" He looked down at his body in surprise and then walked off to find the missing items.

Natsu rolled his eyes and pointed back at the man. "Gray." Erza raised an eyebrow at Natsu, unaware of the situation. "Luigi here doesn't speak Fioran. Luigi, Erza. Erza, Luigi!" He made an indication motion between the two.

Lucy, still recognizing they were doing introductions, furrowed her brow and pointed to herself again. "Lucy!" _So I guess they don't seem like kidnappers..._

"Fine, fine, Lucy."

"So I guess we're not about to find out what happened to her or at the river. Come on, let's head back to the guild. Maybe Levy will be able to put a translator spell on her." Erza stepped behind the tree that all their backpacks were based at and started to pull along her seven foot tall small wagon of items.

Lucy's eyes widened. _Strong! I wonder what all of that is that she possibly needs? _Lucy saw how Gray and Natsu also put on their backpacks and began to walk behind Erza with her large wagon of items. Lucy looked down at her cellphone that wasn't turning on as troubled thoughts ran through her head. _Are they just going to leave me here with no way to contact anyone? In strange woods where I don't know where I am? _

A warm, calloused hand grabbed her wrist and started tugging her along. "Geez I know you can't understand me but can't you even respond to someone calling your own name?" He threw a look over his shoulder to see Lucy with a surprised but grateful look on her face. Responding with a smile he broke into a run to catch up with Erza, Happy, and Gray, tugging Lucy with one hand and swinging her backpack with the other.

Lucy wasn't quite sure what to do during their long walk to an unknown destination. It wasn't as if she could get to know them or where they were or where they were headed. She discovered everything in her backpack was damp, ruined, or unresponsive, which she concluded to water damage from the river. She remembers losing her breath underneath the water, but after that is was all a blank. Hopefully these people knew and there was going to be someone who could translate between them. Until then, she just came up with random theories and went back to observing the scenery and the strangers. Natsu and Gray seemed to bicker a lot, but didn't quite give off the aura of enemies either. Erza must have been in charge since she would always say something and they immediately would behave. However, Lucy spent the majority of the time inspecting Happy, not quite believing what she was seeing. She held the blue cat in her arms, turning him back and forth between the wings and his ability to speak. Eventually she just gave up and stroked him in her arms, trailing behind the other three as they reached a road.

Natsu fell back to walk beside along Lucy. He seemed to be staring at her. Although she couldn't verbally communicate with him, body language went a long way. She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

He said nothing and gave her another one of his wide grins.

_Wait, what?_She took a few steps to get closer to Natsu, who had suddenly become the confused one. _Fangs?_

"Smile again! Let me see!" Lucy dropped Happy and tried to convey through her eyes what she was trying to say.

"What's with you?" Natsu placed his hands behind his head.

"Smile!" Lucy demonstrated, pointing at her mouth.

"Oh! You're hungry! Good cause i'm starving! Erza are we there yet?"

Lucy assumed he hadn't gotten her point after he failed to go along with her request.

"Actually, Natsu, for once we are." Erza responded to him a few moments later as they reached the top of a hill overlooking a peaceful town.

Gray placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder and held his other out, palm up towards the town. "Magnolia!" The quiet place was cozied in between the mountains, but overlooked an ocean of water that connected to canals running through the city. The buildings and church gave her an older European feeling, making her gasp at the towns beauty.

They gradually made their way through the town as Lucy's curiosity and excitement got the better of her as she would stop to observe a shop and its people until Natsu had to drag her back up to speed with the group. _If you were in a strange town that seemed cute and foreign wouldn't you stop to check everything out as well? _Just before she was convinced she had seen everything, the four of them had reached the edge of the town near the ocean and stood before what looked to her like a small fortress. This time it was Erza who was explaining things to her as the armored woman turned to Lucy and gave her a warm smile.

"Fairy Tail." Lucy, taking another look at Erza's armor, noted the strange symbol underneath a cross on her chest plate. She looked up towards the building again, where a much larger version of the symbol was displayed on a banner beneath a magnificent golden bell.

"Uhm?" Lucy quite didn't know how to ask about the symbol, but gave it a shot anyways. She pointed to the mark on Natsu's arm, Gray's Chest, Erza's armor, and then back up to the banner.

"I don't think this one can be explained that easily." Gray scratched his head.

"Let's hope Levy will pull through for us." Erza agreed.

"Come on, Luce! You'll love the guild!" Natsu yelled, grabbing Lucy's wrist and running into the guild with her in tow.

_Is this going to become a normal thing?_

"We're baaack!" Natsu yelled, gaining everyone's attention in the guild. "And we brought a friend!" He finally let go of Lucy's wrist and sat down at a wooden table, taking off his backpack and indicating Lucy sit down next to him. Erza and Gray followed, sitting down at the table as well. Lucy followed their example and looked around the room to all of the energetic faces. She enjoyed the atmosphere.

"Welcome back guys!" A lovely white-haired woman walked up to the table and set down a specific plate for everyone. Gray and Natsu already had started digging into meat Lucy couldn't identify, Erza took savoring bites of a piece of strawberry cake, and Happy sat on top of the table gnawing on a fish. Lucy looked before herself to find a bowl of soup, even though she hadn't been asked about wanting it. She gave the woman a nice smile and took a bite.

"It's delicious!" She gasped. The woman gave a small laugh.

"Who is your friend?"

Natsu, speaking with a large mouthful of food in his mouth, indicated back and forth between the two as he had done with Erza. "Mirajane, Lucy. Lucy, Mirajane. Lucy doesn't speak Fioran so we were hoping Levy could help us out."

"Oh, how curious. Well let's call her over. Levyy!" She gave a small wave indicating for her to come over. A small, blue haired girl skipped over to the cluster of people.

_Blue hair? What is with these people and their weird hair colors?_

"Yess, Mira-chan?" The small girl held her hands behind her back, smiling at everyone.

"We were wondering if you would be able to translate Lucy here's language?"

The blunette redirected her attention towards Lucy. "Sure, but I need to know one word of what she calls something."

"Oh! I know something!" Natsu jumps up in excitement, ruffling through Lucy's bag as she was absentmindedly sipping her soup. A small, silver object catches the corner of her eyes.

"My cellphone!" She reaches out, unaware of what was taking place.

Natsu repeats back to her. "My cellphone?"

"Cellphone." She grabs the object back from him, flipping it open only to be disappointed it still doesn't work.

Levy smiles. "I guess I can work with that. But first I have to find out what a cellphone is..." Levy turns and heads off to a pile of books putting her head to work.

Mira turned back to the others. "So how did the mission go?"

"Natsu destroyed the whole town in the process of killing the monster. We didn't get any reward money." Gray narrowed his eyes at his teammate, taking another angry bite of his food.

"Maybe if you had been there to help instead of searching for your clothing I wouldn't have had to use such attacks!" Natsu took an angry bite of his food in response.

"You guys destroy everything again?!" A voice called from across the guild from an older man smoking a pipe. A man with purple hair about the same age commented back.

"It's because of you kids that we have this reputation!"

Natsu stood up on the wooden stool, startling Lucy. "Come say that to my face!"

"Now that's being a MAN, Natsu!"

"Will you people quiet down? I'm trying to drink over here!"

"Gray-sama is back!? Why did no one tell Juvia?!"

"Wendy, don't put your elbows on the table."

"Sorry, Charle!"

Lucy was finding it a hard time to keep up with all the voices yelling across the building and who they were coming from. _Well this is certainly an interesting bunch. How are they all connected though? They don't look related._More theories ran through her head.

"Shut up. Shrimp is done with your request." Lucy looked to her right to see a pierced black-haired main folding his arms behind the small blue haired one.

_Reminder not to PISS him off._

The small bluenette walked up to the table sheepishly. "Have her put this on and we'll see if it works." Natsu took hold of the small red wristband and took Lucy's hand in his, gently placing the item on her wrist.

_So he does know how to be gentle..._

"Okay, Lucy. Can you understand me?" His words faded off into his classic grin.

"There they are again! Why do you have fangs!?" She blurted out. The building went silent for a moment before erupting into laughter.

"It works! Good job Levy!" Gray managed out between his fits of laughter.

"Wait, I understand you!" Lucy yelled out excitedly. This was going to make her life a lot easier.

"It's nice to meet you, Lucy." She turned around to face the white haired woman again. "I'm Mirajane. Welcome to Fairy Tail." A cheer of excitement came from everyone in the building.

"Fairy Tail?" Lucy blinked, looking around the room to all the smiling faces. "What do you mean?"

"It's our guilds name." Erza smiled. Lucy's neck was starting to hurt from looking back and forth at everyone at such rapid paces. She had no idea what any of these people were saying!

"What's a guild?" She timidly asked, feeling as if she was a smile child again, asking question after question about the world.

"You know, like a magicians guild!" Natsu encouraged, leaning his temple against his hand as it was propped up on the table.

"Like, rabbits and wands?"

"Like... magic?" Natsu seemed confused on how she wasn't grasping the concept and raised and eyebrow.

"But there's no such thing as magic"


	3. Pink Sunset

**WOOO! So guess who was really productive today and decided to just write the next chapter since she finished her homework in the library? SELF! Anyways, thanks for reading, again, this is my first fic so constructive criticism welcome and encouraged! **

**Maybe this will help someone somewhere smile even though terrible things have happened today? My love goes out to everyone everywhere who needs it right now.**

* * *

The Guild had grown quiet again with confused stares. All attention was on Lucy now as she looked around innocently with a slight tinge of annoyance. Natsu looked to Gray and Erza for confirmation he had heard the blonde correctly. Gray shrugged his shoulders as Erza placed a hand over her mouth, obviously deep in thought.

"Maybe you hit your head really hard." Natsu finally broke the silence, placing the back of his hand against Lucy's forehead."You don't seem to be running a ridiculous fever."

Lucy pushed his hand away in annoyance. "Why am I the crazy one here? You're the one with pink hair and fangs spurting about magic! Will someone tell me what's going on?"

"What's wrong with pink?" Natsu asked, pulling one of his hair spikes into view above his forehead eyeing it doubtfully.

"You're crazy because you're sitting in a guild at a table with mages and trying to tell us what we do for a living isn't real." The pierced man behind the blue hair girl answered. He raised one of his crossed arms and placed it on the smaller girl's shoulder. "Let's go. This bunny girl obviously needs a while to get her head on straight."

The girl gave a half-hearted pout. "We'll talk to you guys later I guess!" The two turned and made their way out of the guild stirring a response from another two boys in the corner who seemed to be whispering about the couple before following them out of the guild.

"They're right. You're probably overwhelmed anyways we should all stop pressuring you." Mirajane gave a stern but happy look around the guild to make sure everyone would do the same before returning to the bar and to pick up where she left off cleaning glasses. As the noise level raised up Lucy couldn't help feeling the motherly aura from Mirajane had emitted and admired how everyone respected her. _Kill them with kindess I guess._

"What did he mean 'what we do for a living'?" Lucy asked, mindlessly stirring the rest of the soup in front of her. Being called crazy had suddenly made her lose her appetite.

"Natsu, stop fussing with your hair. Pink is fine." Erza commanded, her tone taking a drastic change as she addressed Lucy. "Rolling with the obvious assumption that you've never been to a guild before I'll do my best to explain things to you. Everyone here is a magician, quite experienced in their own magic. Over there," Erza pointed to a large board beside the bar with a variety of papers pinned to it. "Is the request board where a magician or a group of magicians will evaluate the jobs that ask for mages to fix a problem, whether that ranges from being an escort, taking care of a gang or individual, finding something, the list goes on. The magician or group will tell the master of the guild they are taking the job and set off to do it. If completely successfully with minor destruction, a reward is given which is often what guild members live off of." Erza signaled she was done with her explanation by taking another bite of her strawberry cake.

"You still look confused." Gray laughed. "What do you want clarification on?"

Lucy hesitantly replied. "The magic part I guess?"

Natsu took one of his legs from under the table and placed it on the other side of the bench so his chest was facing directly towards Lucy. "Where did you say you're from again?"

"I-I didn't." She stumbled over her words, trying to not openly stare at his toned muscles, but this was a battle of will she hadn't been trained for quite yet. He leaned forward, waiting for more. It took Lucy a few moments to compose herself and focus on not blushing. "San Francisco."

"Where's that?" Happy piped up, his belly comically huge from eating a fish that had been twice his size.

"California." She looked to the others waiting to see the connection on their faces. When it never came, she decided to keep going. "...The United States?. . .North America?" The pauses in between had been growing longer along with her desperation. "Earth?!"

"Hey! We're getting somewhere! Okay, so Earthland. Keep giving us clues." Natsu replied, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

"Just Earth. No land."

"So you're a mermaid?!"

"No! Not Earthland! Just Earth!" Lucy took a deep breath and realized she had copied Natsu's position and was facing him directly, obviously distracted by her frustration. With a wink, Mirajane placed a map onto the table before departing to serve drinks to the rest of the guild. The rest of the table obviously hadn't heard her approach either due to the looks on their faces. _For someone so beautiful it's surprising for her to be so stealthy._

"Thanks, Mira!" Gray yelled across the guild, eyes still on the map as he unfurled it and turned it towards Lucy. "She has the right idea though. Okay, point away."

"Am I being punk'd?" Lucy looks around for possible hidden camera men. "If so this is weirdly elaborate and I'm not even famous. But kudos on all your acting skills."

"You still don't believe us about anything do you?!" Natsu threw up his hands in disbelief.

"Well nothing is making sense so it's a little difficult!" She yelled back.

"We're here right now." Gray pointed to a small section on an area that was labeled Fiore. "Does that help?"

"No, because where's Asia? North America? Europe? Africa?" Lucy pointed her finger on the map to places that she imaged the continents would be. She could see their conflicting point of views were at a standstill.

"Maybe you're both right." All heads snapped towards Erza's calm tone of voice. "Lucy doesn't seem as if she's lying, and seems too convinced to be delusional in my opinion. I'm not sure how, but maybe Lucy isn't actually from Earthland. It's not unlikely considering that Edolas can exist. Maybe this is something along those lines."

"Edolas?"

Erza pushed the now empty plate of her strawberry cake aside to place her elbows on the table and rest her head on folded hands. "A parallel world connected to ours where everything is opposite."

"So you're saying..." Lucy tried to grasp her mind around what was apparently a reasonable explanation from the scarlet haired woman. "That all of...THIS," She waved her index finger in a 360 around the room, "is another world? And that I just MAGICALLY wound up here?"

"Yes." Erza's tone was direct and unwavering.

"Yeah, see, here's the point of reason." Lucy indicated a small point on an imaginary scale. "And here's where you are!" Indicating another reason way off to the corners of her reach. "You're wayyyy beyond it right now." It was one thing to read about magic and different worlds in her books where it was easy to differentiate fantasy from reality. Trying to swallow that information as the truth was an entirely different story.

"You probably dropped her on the way back to the campsite which is making this harder for her." Gray scoffed at Natsu as he piled the tables dirty dishes together and picked them up, heading over towards the bar so Mira could clean them.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" Natsu erupted, jumping up to stand on the bench with one foot on the table. He pulled back his arm into a throwing position, a wooden cup in hand, ready to fire at Gray. Lucy found this amusing and found herself laughing until the wooden cup burst into flames.

"You're on fire!" The smile faded from her lips as she quickly reacted taking hold of both her and Erza's waters and immediately splashing them at Natsu. One cup of water extinguished the flame while the other splashed all over his face. He turned towards Lucy, obviously stunned by her actions as the water dripped down his chest and off of his chin. "What? You were on fire!"

He retracted his arm and removed his foot from the tabletop to bend his knees so his face was a few inches above Lucys. "I'm a fire dragon-slayer! My magic is fire! You really are clueless aren't you?" He slowly reignited the cup and his hand,"It doesn't hurt me." His tone was much softer this time as he let the flame die out, the cup still in it's original condition.

Lucy looked down open-mouthed at her open palms as a loss for words came over her. Everything she had ever known about logic had been shattered over the course of a day. She went from unable to understand them to speaking with them fluently, she was in a different world from her own, magic existed, and cats could fly and talk. This would take some time getting used to.

"Natsu, I think Lucy should get some rest. We'll figure this all out tomorrow. Take care of her." Erza said in a quiet tone, sensing the atmosphere that now surrounded them. She stood up to join Gray and Mira over at the bar.

"Why me!?" Natsu tried to whisper and yell back, glancing from Lucy who was still staring at her hands to the retreating Erza.

"You're the reason we didn't get any reward money." Natsu understood that was the end of the conversation and there was no way talking himself out of this. He scratched the back of his head and stepped down from the stool, putting on his backpack and taking Lucy's with his left hand.

"Lucy?" He waved a hand in front of her face, no reaction occurring. "Lucyyy? Hellooo?" He gently shook her shoulder as she came back into focus.

"What? Yeah, sorry."

"Come on, you're staying with me and Happy. A lot has happened for you today and you're probably tired. Come on, Happy!" He gently grabbed her hand and began to lead her out of the guild.

"Aye, Sir!" The small blue cat flew past them to the outside.

"You like charging straight into things don't you?" Lucy gave a small laugh.

"What, why do you say that?" Natsu looked back at her, still leading the way forward.

"You keep grabbing my hand or wrist to go forward. Maybe this time we're not running anywhere, but all the other times we were." A knowing smile appeared on her lips.

"W-what!? I-I do not!" He looked down to where he was still holding her hand, tearing it away as a blush rapidly deepened in his cheeks. "And take your own backpack!" He pushed at her as her laughter increased.

She put on her backpack feeling slightly better as the two traveled in silence for a while through the town. Happy had probably just flown straight home at some point, not wanting to fly at the slow pace of Lucy. Natsu hadn't said anything yet probably out of consideration. Either that or just not caring. It just wasn't in Lucy's heart to be in an upbeat mood and pace anywhere. She felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb, and everything was so foreign to her making her feel isolated. That, and she hadn't been very grateful towards Natsu, Gray, and Erza for taking her with them without even knowing who she was or where she came from. Plus there were so many people in the guild that she hadn't met yet like that blue haired girl who was obviously the reason she was able to understand them at all. Lucy stared at the red wristband. _I didn't even notice that I could finally understand everyone when Natsu placed it on me. So this is magic? I wonder what else it can do... _

She looked up to the setting sky which had turned a wonderful mix of colors. "What a pretty pink..."

"So you don't think it's weird?" Natsu looked at her with curious eyes, one hand ruffling his hair, obviously self-conscious.

"I was talking about the sky" she replied without thinking. He put his hands in his pockets and looked away from her, obviously hurt by the comment. "But I like your hair too. It suits you."

A small smile replaced his pout as they walked in silence for a few more steps.

"It's spring here you know."

_What?_

"I mean your outfit is kind of weird but it will probably be too warm. You're going to need different clothing." He pointed specifically at her pants and boots. "Plus they're in awful condition anyways."

"My jeans? Do you not have these here?" He shook his head. "Well I don't have any other clothes, let alone know what currency you use."

"That's why I brought it up. I can spare some money for you to get a few outfits, it's not really a big deal. Besides you'll blend in better."

Lucy's face lit up, the idea of shopping instantly making her feel better. "Really!?" He nodded his head again just for her amusement. "Oh thank you! I saw a really cute outfit on our way into down let's go there before it closes!" She was the one grabbing his wrist this time and running off to lead the way.

A few hours passed as Lucy and Natsu went rushing from shop to shop before they could all close. Natsu realized he didn't actually know many of the clothing shops in Magnolia, so the two would wander around until they found a new one where Lucy would then quickly look through all the clothes and if she found any she liked would try them on in a rush. She felt bad enough wasting Natsu's money. She didn't want to waste his time as well. However she found he almost looked as if he was enjoying himself, and he didn't mind waiting through dressing room after dressing room. It was completely night now as she walked out of the last dressing room wearing tall black boots, a mini skirt with a brown belt, and a white blouse that featured a blue cross along the zipper and chest. It had even come with a matching ribbon that she used to tie up a portion of her hair.

"What do you think?" She twirled around, giving the skirt a slight lifting Marilyn Monroe effect. "Natsu?"

He realized he had been staring and quickly glanced to the side and placed a hand over his mouth giving a muffle to his words. "Good for spring."

She gave a small laugh and went up to the owner of the store, asking if she could just wear the outfit out since her other was pretty torn up and didn't need it anymore. The owner happily agreed as Natsu paid and waved goodbye as they left.

She hadn't realized when it happened but she was able to talk pretty freely with Natsu now as they chatted their way back to his house. It was nice to have a friend in a strange world.

"Happyy we're home!" Natsu hollered as they walked through the door. The cat however was asleep in an upper bed-nest-thing, Lucy wasn't quite sure, and didn't respond.

"Natsu this house is a mess." She rolled her eyes making her way in, carefully stepping over objects strewn across the floor.

"Hey! It's not that bad!" He set his backpack down, stretching before taking a look around the house himself. "Okay so maybe it's a little bad. Happy and I sleep out here so you can use the actual bedroom. Put your stuff down in there and then we can clean your wounds."

"My what?" She said making her way to the bedroom, having to carefully plan every step by being forced to decide what was less valuable so she could step on it.

"I've been with you all day and you think I haven't noticed all your cuts, burns, and bruises?" She removed her shoes and placed all of the shopping bags and backpack in the room which was covered in a thin layer of dust, but otherwise was completely clean and clear of clutter.

_The queen size bed is even made!_

She walked back out to the main room where Natsu had been shoving things into piles in an attempt to make decent pathways. It worked to an extent.

"Okay! I'll get the first aid! I cleared off a seat for you at the table." He turned back to a small cupboard by the door and started rummaging through it.

"What table?" Lucy looked around, honestly not being able to find it.

"In the corner! Where is that damn- found it!" He yelled in triumph, raising the first aid high in the air. Lucy looked to the corner of the room she had assumed was another giant pile of things where she could make out part of a table and an open chair and sat down. Natsu walked over feeling triumphant for remembering where one of the more important items was and placed it on the table next to her then leaned against the wall crossing his arms.

She opened the box carefully and began to inspect the elements inside, picking up a random bottles. _Plant venom? Overwhelming darkness exposure? Erza repellent? _

"Don't tell me." _Then don't say it. _**"**You don't know how to wrap or clean wounds do you?" His tone was both joking and serious at the same time. Uncrossing his arms he walked over to her still holding unfamiliar bottles.

"It's not exactly mandatory in my world! You could always go to the school nurse or if it was actually bad, the hospital!" She looked back down at the bottles, pretending to be reading the labels when she was really just trying to avoid his gaze.

He gave a loud chuckle. "You're too proud."

"_You're too proud blah blah blah._**" **She repeated back in her best Natsu impersonation.

He laughed again, unphased. "Would you put down the bottles and sit on the table already? Yeesh you and I both know you have know idea what you're doing."

"What?" Her head snapped up looking at the table and then him.

"It's easier for me to clean your wounds if you're sitting on the table so I don't have to kneel or bend down. I'm still tired from the mission."

Lucy looked back and forth between the table and him once again, his face relaxed and lighthearted but still serious. She moved the first aid aside, and with a small hop and some arm strength lifted herself onto the table. Natsu, obviously content, moved over to the first aid, taking the necessary cleaning and wrapping supplies went to work on Lucy's shins.

"So how did this happen?"

"...What?" She realized she had been caught up in his focused expression.

"These injuries? People don't just mysteriously burned and cut." He moved onto her kneecaps.

"Well, I was on a camping trip with my school when I went to retrieve water and saw smoke on the way back so I started running and I fell."

"What type of school?" He straightened up, done with cleaning her legs and gently picked up her left arm as he began to clean and wrap it.

"A high school? You know a place where you sit for eight hours a day learning various subjects like math, science, english, and other subjects? Do you guys have those?"

"Well we have schools if you want to learn a certain trade or strengthen your magic, but I don't think it's quite what you're describing. What's english?"

"My language. I'm not sure what this sounds like to you right now, but for me it feels like we're speaking it currently."

"To me and everyone else, the two of us are currently speaking Fioran." He stopped for a moment and gave her a smile before returning to the wounds. "Anyways, so back to these injuries. You fell into fire then? Cause you're burned everywhere."

"Well, it's more like I ran into it looking for my friends and school, but as I reached my campground no one was there, so I to

ok my backpack and started running back to the stream I had found when my brain started to become fuzzy and it became hard to breathe and then I found the stream which was now a large river but I was at a cliff and couldn't go either way and then a tree that was on fire was starting to fall towards me so I jumped into the river and the last thing I remember is seeing the stars shine through the dark water when I lost consciousness." She took a much needed breath as she realized she had been rambling.

"LUCY- wait what's your last name?" He finished up her left arm and crossed her over to her right.

"Heartfilia?"

"LUCY HEARTFILIA ONLY FIRE MAGES ARE SUPPOSED TO GO RUNNING INTO FIRE! Even in your world they must have that kind of rule!" She jumped slightly back at his concern. Recently a stranger and yet he was lecturing her on the rules of fire safety. What a strange man indeed.

"They're called firemen, and well what's done is done. Ow!" She winced at a particularly sore spot on her shoulder as Natsu dabbed it with the cleaning alcohol and finished wrapping it afterwards.

"Well quit squirming and it wouldn't hurt as bad!" He had started cleaning her cheeks so Lucy tried a little harder to sit still, but wouldn't give him the satisfaction of letting him know she was following his instructions.

"Says the person who couldn't sit still for a second today!"

"Well maybe I get a little excited when I get back to the guild! So what? You don't get a little excited be home sometimes?" Natsu stuck the very last bandage on her cheek before realizing the weight of his words as a tear slid down her cheek. "Oh. Oh, Luce, I-"

"I might never be able to go home." She said in a hardly audible voice, Natsu's dragon ears barely being able to pick up the words. His hands dropped to his sides, unsure of how to comfort her. She wiped the tear away with the back of her hand and hopped off the table, heading towards the bedroom. "Thanks for cleaning my wounds, Natsu." She slipped inside the room, closed the door with a quiet _click! _behind her, slowly changed into the new pajamas Natsu had bought her, and crawled into bed where she curled up into a small ball underneath the covers.

He stood there staring at the door for a minute, feeling awful, before quietly walking up to it with a fist ready to knock, but he found he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. Lowering the fist in defeat he returned to the first aid kit and placed everything back inside. Natsu carefully took off his vest and sandals and placed them next to his hammock before laying down and turning over, burying his face in his scarf. Although he couldn't hear anything coming from the room, there was no mistaking the salty smell of Lucy's overflowing tears.


	4. Porlyusica

**Welp, this chapter didn't get updated very quickly. Sorry! Anyways, so I just want to warn you that I think this story is gonna be pretty long, because all these ideas keep popping into my mind and I want to include them all, sooo just a heads up! Anyways, thank's for reading! :)**

* * *

It was pretty out of character for Lucy to cry herself to sleep in her own opinion. Normally she tried to be a very optimistic person so people wouldn't automatically stereotype her as the foster child who had a lot of emotional problems, but when Natsu suddenly brought up home, a wave of emotion hit her that she wasn't expecting. Thoughts rushed through her head of how she has no idea of how to get home, how her apartment would probably be repossessed since she wasn't there to pay the bills, she would definitely be fired from her job, and she didn't even know if her friends had made it out of the forest fire. Lucy tried to expel the negative thoughts from her mind as she rubbed her eyes. It was a new day and time for a new attitude. Throwing off the covers she walked to the bathroom as her eyes lit up with joy. _A shower! Natsu won't mind if I just take a quick one, right? _After taking a few minutes to figure out how the water lacrima and heat lacrima worked together, Lucy removed her bandages and stepped into the warm water, feeling much better from last night. She looked down to her skin where it was practically back to normal, admiring how either Natsu was an expert on wounds or how the medicine here was extraordinary.

_creeeeak_

Her eyes widened as her body instantly froze. _Natsu isn't the type of guy to try and peek on a girl in the shower, is he?_

"Natsuuu..." Came a small voice from the other side of the shower curtain. Lucy pushed some of the curtain aside so her head could poke through without exposing her body.

"Happy?" The blue cat had been rubbing its eyes groggily and blinked up at the girl.

"...Lu...cy?" His mind suddenly clicked as he was jolted back into reality and placed it's paws over its mouth trying to compress a laugh.

"GET OUT YOU STUPID CAT!" Lucy instantly grabbed the bar of soap and chucked it at him, hitting him straight in the forehead. He scrambled out the door, quickly shutting it as another object landed where he would have been. She did a final quick rinse and stepped out of the shower, wrapping herself in a white fluffy towel before exiting the bathroom.

"Natsuuu! Lucy was mean to me!" Happy whined as he jumped up and down on top of Natsu who was still half asleep. Lucy could only see some of his pink tufts of hair peeking over the hammock since he slept facing the door."Now's your chance! Yell at her!" The cat stopped jumping and pointed over him to the blonde.

Natsu groaned, obviously not being given the chance to go back to sleep. He craned his neck up over his right shoulder to look. "Lucy, you-" His words trailed off as he caught sight of her in the towel, Lucy suddenly feeling very exposed.

_THUMP_

Natsu had fallen out of his hammock, his face turning a deep shade of pink. _Why am I blushing too?! I didn't do anything wrong! _

Lucy cleared her throat. "Sorry, I used the shower. Uhm, yeah, soooo i'm gonna go get changed." She held the towel securely at the top as she quickly retreated to the bedroom and shut the door. Immediately a quarrel of hushed yelling began.

"You didn't tell me she had been in the shower!"  
"She threw things at me!"

"BECAUSE YOU WALKED IN ON HER SHOWERING!"

_Don't they understand that there's no point in having whispering tones if you're going to be that loud anyways? _Lucy rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated breath, turning her attention away from the noises in the main room to get ready for the day. After changing, putting her pajamas away, making the bed, she turned to the mirror one last time to make sure her ribbon was looking alright, Lucy walked out to the main room where Natsu and Happy had been chatting on the sofa.

Nastu jumped up excitedly. "Okay! Let's go!"

"What, no breakfast?" Happy looked hurt, almost as if this were some type of personal punishment.

"We'll eat at the guild. We need to figure out how to get Lucy home." Looking over towards Lucy they had a moment of serious eye contact where she could tell he was sorry for last night. She gave a soft smile of thanks before the three headed out the door towards the guild.

"Nastu?"

"Hmm?"

"How come you don't sleep in the bedroom?" She looked up towards the perfectly blue sky as the group traveled along the cobblestone streets. There were few clouds, and by the position of the sun, Lucy guessed it was about ten in the morning.

"Hmm." Natsu rubbed his chin. "I don't think i've ever really thought about it before. I guess the idea of me sleeping in there feels wrong? Does that make sense?"

Lucy nodded in response. "Yeah, understandable."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Just curious!" She giggled. "So, what's a dragon slayer? You said thats the reason you have fangs."

"It's my magic type! Igneel taught it to me!" Natsu's excitement grew with every word and step. "Think of it as magic from dragons that has been taught to humans that gives them dragon abilities. As you've seen, mine is fire." He make his fist ignite like the day before, demonstrating to Lucy. "You've met Gajeel as well, the pierced idiot with long black hair. He's an Iron dragon slayer, and then there's Wendy, she was in the guild although you didn't meet her yesterday, but she's a sky magic dragon slayer. We're what you call first generation since we were directly taught the magic."

"So, is this a common magic then?"

"Oh, no. There are others as well. Laxus, the masters grandson, not sure where he was yesterday but you'll probably meet him eventually, has some lacrima inside of him that makes him a second generation drayon slayer. Same with this one Cobra guy. And then there are two guys from the Sabertooth guild who are third generation who have both lacrima and were taught it." Lucy's head was spinning from all the information, creating a humorous facial expression for Natsu as he laughed.

"So if Fairy Tail has three, that makes you pretty strong, right?"

"I guess. Nakama is more important than strength though!" Natsu smiled.

"Nakama?"

Natsu paused for a moment, taking deep consideration of how he should phrase this to her. "Think of it as family you get to choose."

_Nakama... Must be nice._

"Welcome back to Fairy Tail, Lucy!" Natsu yelled as they approached the building, his pace increasing in excitement. "Today you'll get to meet all the people who you didn't get a chance to talk to." Natsu's energy finally got the better of him as he ran the last few steps and into the building. "Lucy's back!"

Lucy stepped into the guild full of smiling faces that smiled and waved at had done a fine job of capturing everyone's attention and redirecting towards her. Lucy walked over to the table where Erza, Gray, a young blue haired girl, Gajeel, and the blue haired girl who gave her the translator were.

"Nice to see you again." Erza smiled.

"You look much better today." Gray added.

"Well come on, sit down!" Natsu patted a seat beside him on the bench as Lucy wiggled her way in.

The young blue haired girl smiled at her. "I'm Wendy, pleasure to meet you!"

"Lucy." She stuck out her hand ready to shake, only to be met by stares around the table. "I'm taking you don't do this here?" She slightly retracted her hand.

"Do what?" Gray ended up asking, even though Lucy knew the whole table was thinking it.

"In the United States, when we meet someone we shake their hand. I guess to confirm it?"

Natsu's stomach growled. "I'm gonna get us some food." He stood up and walked over to the bar.

"How interesting!" The other blue haired girl piped up, immediately extending her arm across the table for Lucy to shake. "I'm Levy! Can you tell me more about science?" Lucy smiled and shook with her.

"Ain't that just a myth?" Gajeel gruffed, his eyes switching between Lucy and Levy.

"That's what I thought until I saw her, uhm, cell phone? Is that right?" Levy looked to Lucy for assurance.

Lucy laughed. "Yes, it's called a cell phone. And what do you mean science is a myth? Even in a world of magic shouldn't someone somewhere be into science?"

Natsu walked back to the table carrying three plates of a steaming food that looked similar to octopus and set two of them in front of Lucy and Happy before squeezing back into his spot in between her and Gray.

"Why? Everything can just be done with magic." Happy took a large bite of the seafood and Lucy looked back to her own plate, pushing it around with a fork.

"Just eat it, it's good." Natsu gave her a stern look before taking a bite for himself. She cut off a small portion and gingerly placed in her mouth, being surprised with a lighter flavor of pineapple.

"So what does a cell phone exactly do?" Levy persisted, leaning forward on her elbows over the table.

"It's a communicator. Of course the other person needs one as well. By pushing buttons you can send them either written messages or speak with them directly. Mine isn't a very recent model. The modern ones now play all sorts of games, go on the internet, and about a million other functions that would take too much to explain. Either way it's a good way to stay in touch with people when they're far away. By the way Levy, how does this communicator work?" Lucy took another bite as she held up her wrist showing the red band she had been given the day before.

"Well I researched the word cell phone and it came up in a bunch of old stories that are meant to scare children into behaving. But a cell phone sounds astounding! Our letters don't really match up to that."

"Maybe technology actually has some perks I guess." Lucy smiled, feeling slightly proud of Earth. "But if you have magic, why are there still those shops in town that seemed to do everything by hand?" While her and Natsu had gone shopping she had noticed old fashioned bakers, merchants, and other things you would expect from a town that hadn't quite industrialized.

"Not everyone has magic power is why." Erza set down the glass of water she had been drinking. "Only about ten percent of the population in the world can use magic."

"Of course however," Gray rushed, seeing Lucy's face had slightly fallen. "Most of it is used for good and helps the rest of the population."

"Most?" Lucy finished the rest of her pineapple squid.

"There are dark guilds and thieves guilds out there. But take Wendy for example. Instead of using her dragon slaying magic to fight, she uses it to heal people." Gray indicated towards the young girl who began blushing.

Natsu finished his plate and pushed up from the table. "We should focus on Lucy getting home. Is master here?"

"He's back in his office." Erza responded, pointing to the hallway next to the bar. "Don't look so nervous Lucy, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Lucy gave a weak laugh and stood up from the table as well. "Sorry, my face just does that sometimes." Facing Wendy, Levy, and Gajeel she waved. "Nice to formally meet you this time!" She turned to Natsu. "Okay! Lead the way."

The pair headed off to the office down the hallway as Natsu gave a rambunctious knock on the door. "Oi! Gramps! Got a minute to talk?"

An unamused voice responded from inside the room. "Come in, Natsu." Natsu swung the door open and entered, raising an open palm of greeting to the small aged man that sat behind a large desk. His expression changed from bothered to welcoming as Lucy entered the office. "Oh? And who is this?"

"This is Lucy, she's from Earth. Have you ever heard of it?"

The man sat back in his large chair and folded his hands together with a smile. "Welcome, Lucy! I am Makarov Dreyar, the third master of Fairy Tail. And yes Natsu, although I know some bits about Earth, i've never personally met someone from it before. But then again, things have probably changed, after all it's been about 25 years since we've heard anything. So what can I do for you two?"

Natsu's expression became serious. "We need to find out how to get Lucy back home. Can you help us?"

Makarov sighed. "I'm afraid you're asking the wrong person." He could see her heart drop by the expression on her face and quickly tried to give her some encouraging words. "However, If I were you I would go ask Porlyusica. She was always interested in Earth's medicine so she might know something. You better get going if you're planning on arriving before nightfall."

Natsu jumped up in enthusiasm. "You're right, we're wasting time! Come on Luce!" He grabbed her wrist and dragged her out the door.

"Aa- Thank you!" She yelled over her shoulder, catching one last smile from the old man. Natsu and Lucy approached the table where they had been sitting before.

"Come on Happy, we've gotta go!"

"Sorry, Natsu. I'm going with Wendy and Charle on a mission. But where are you going?"

"To visit Porlyusica about getting Lucy home. Gramps said she would probably know what to do."

"I'll go with you." Erza stood up from the table.

"What?" Lucy was shocked. She didn't even know Erza, why would she want to help Lucy get home?

"Well, knowing Natsu he'll probably get you killed. It'd probably be best if I made sure that didn't happen." Gray announced, standing up as well.

"What are you trying to say?!" Natsu yelled, curling his fists.

"You're not capable of looking out for anyone but yourself!" Gray's shirt had suddenly gone missing.

"I think you need to-!" The two were now head to head as Erza tore them apart.

"You're making her upset." The table looked to the blonde who was wiping tears away.

"Oh, this isn't about that." She let out a small laugh. "I've only known you for a day and you're all so nice and i'm just really thankful it was you guys who found me." _Sniffle. _**"**Sorry, I know it's stupid."

"LUUU-CHAAAN!" Levy jumped on Lucy, giving her a tight hug.

"Why are YOU crying?!"

"I'm not sure but I can't make them stop!" The table laughed in unison as Lucy detached the small blunette who was trying to stop her tears. After short goodbyes to the rest of the guild, the four set off in search of Porlyusica.

It was easier for Lucy to ask what the function of each plant was this time as they traveled along the forest trails on their way to the mage's hut. Erza seemed to answer to most of Lucy's questions while Natsu would simply comment on what was edible or poisonous.

"This looks kind of like the forest that I saw when we were on our way to Magnolia." Lucy commented, picking an orange and red flower that she thought was pretty.

"Thats because it's the same one." Gray responded, walking with his hands in his pockets.

"So do you remember how you got here, Lucy? That might give us some clues on how to get you home." Erza asked. Lucy couldn't figure out why Erza needed her large wagon of items for a one night trip, but here she was, dragging it along as if it were as light as a classic toy one. Lucy took a deep breath before explaining the story that she had told Natsu about fetching water and the forest fire. She explained it more as a story this time instead of facts and was pleased to see Gray and Erza's reactions to some of the details.

"And then I woke up in my sleeping bag. The rest you know."

"Maybe that has something to do with the explosion from the river?" Gray asked aloud.

"Explosion? What explosion?"

"We heard a loud sound that sounded like an explosion from the river, and when we went to check it out, we found you washed up onto the side of the river." Erza added.

Lucy turned to Natsu. "You never mentioned that!"

"You never asked!" He defended.

"Speaking of asking, just how old are you guys?"

"Why? You're not like actually 60 are you?" Natsu stepped closer to Lucy so their faces were inches apart, narrowing his eyes trying to answer his own question.

She pushed his face away, her own slightly flushing. "No! I just want to know if maybe age is measured different here or something."

Erza tucked a piece of hair behind her ear in thought. "Well if you're measuring with a number per year, years being 365 days, I'm 19, and Gray and Natsu are 18."

Natsu crossed his arms. "You're only older than me by a few months..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing Erza!"

"What about you Lucy?" Gray redirected the focus back to her.

"I'm 18 as well. That means you guys would probably be in the same grade as me in school! "Well, 19 is pushing it, but either way..." She giggled at the thought of the three in her school's blue and yellow uniforms.

"What's so funny?" Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"Just the thought of you guys going to classes, having lockers, maybe joining clubs, and going to prom. Just doing regular school things I guess."

"What's a prom? Or a locker? And I don't think I would like sitting and learning for as long as you described. I think i'll pass on school." He waved off the idea from his mind.

"School isn't so bad! A locker is where you put all your books and items when you're not using them. And prom is a dance. Boys traditionally ask girls to go with them in cute ways, but of course girls asking guys is pretty common as well. Then you get all fancy and wear dresses and boys wear suits and you go in limos and dance all night!" Lucy dreamily held her face, her imagination carrying her away.

"Sounds enjoyable." Erza smiled.

Gray made an unamused face. "Wearing a suit all night doesn't."

"So when is this prom?" Natsu asked, surprising Lucy in his interest.

"About a month I guess? Maybe a little more?"

"Soo I guess you would've been asked already."

Lucy's head snapped towards Natsu who was avoiding eye contact. "I guess." He tried to sneak a side glance to determine if this meant she had been asked, but noticed her looking and turned away in panic.

The rest of the walk went by quickly as Lucy was filled in with more information about Earthland and how different it was from her home. She enjoyed hearing about all the hilarious memories the other three shared, and was amazed by Erza and Gray when they offered to demonstrate their magic to her. Of course Earthland seemed to take a backseat to the other three's questions about Lucy's life. She felt like she was explaining everything under the sun, spending more time than she wanted on how electricity worked.

"We're here."

Lucy looked up to the large tree that stood before them. To be honest she wouldn't have noticed they were there if Erza hadn't said anything, but now she saw the careful way the tree seemed to grow with the window and door, and how a natural set of steps led up to it. She was relieved they had finally arrived since the sun began to set and she wasn't sure if they were walking back to the guild that night.

Natsu placed a hand on her back and pushed her up the set of stairs. "Come on! Stop day dreaming and get up there." Lucy knocked twice hesitantly on the door.

No response.

"Here, let me try." Gray moved up to the left of Lucy and gave three distinct knocks to the door.

No response.

Natsu laughed. "You call that a knock? Pfft watch and learn." He moved up to the opposite side of Lucy and hit the door with his palm five times. Before long, the two were both somewhat attacking the door trying to see who could make the most noise, and Lucy was stuck in the middle of it.

The door swung open and the three automatically froze at the face of an angry resident. "Go away! I hate humans!" She slammed the door in their faces.

"Wait!" Lucy called, reaching her hand out instinctively. "You're the only one we know to turn to! Makarov sent us!" She hoped Makarov's relationship with the woman was a friendly one from the way he had suggested her.

The door cracked open as the woman's eyes peered through. "What do you want?"

"My name is Lucy and I need help getting back home to Earth. Makarov said you might know how to help me."

With a sigh, the woman opened the door looking a bit defeated. "Fine, come in." Lucy's face filled with a smile as they followed the woman inside the tree and into an oval room. She turned around quickly at Lucy. "You're from Earth you say?" Lucy nodded her head intently. "And you've never been to Fiore before?"

"No ma'am."

The pink haired woman stared at her without blinking for a few moments. "Get out. I hate lairs!"

She picked up the broom near her and started to come at Lucy before Natsu stood in front of her. "She isn't lying!"

"It's impossible for people of Earth to come to Earthland! Of course she's lying! Now get out!"

Lucy partially stepped out from behind Natsu. "Then how am I here? I'm not lying!"

Porlyusica narrowed her eyes at the blonde. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Lucy Heartfilia." Gray and Erza looked at each other with troubled expressions.

"Now you're just mocking me! Get out! Get out!" She took a half hearted swing at them with the broom, missing completely.

Natsu stepped in front of Lucy again, raising his arms up and looked at the woman with a serious expression. "She's not lying and we're asking you to help us."

Porlyusica looked at Lucy again and lowered her broom, sighing. "Only celestial mages can travel in between the two worlds."

"What are you saying?"

"People from Earth are incapable of being mages. Lucy must have somehow traveled over before she can remember, originally coming from Earthland. Look at her name, it's obvious which family she comes from."

Natsu lowered his arms slowly and turned to look at Lucy who was in complete shock. "W-what do you mean 'obvious'?"

"The Heartfilia family is known for their exponential success from the Heartfilia Konzern."

Lucy took a step back, placing a hand on her chest and taking heavy, uneven breaths. "Why didn't you tell me? T-that I have a-" She looked up to Natsu, unable to get out the last word.

He shook his head. "I didn't-"

"Natsu, Heartfilia Railways?" Erza asked, a greenish color coming over him.

"Don't talk about trains..." The color deepened.

Lucy looked to the faces around her, practically hyperventilating at this point. Gray reached out a hand to place on her shoulder, Lucy stepping back from it. "I-I need some air." She pushed through them, running out the door.

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**WHEEEE! So exciting, right?! Please review! Or just send me fun little notes cause they make my day?**


	5. Tucked Away

**Ahhh! Thank you for your nice reviews. So this part was originally going to be meshed in with the next chapter but it felt like a good place to stop, even though it's significantly shorter. Bear with me! And also my parents are visiting me this weekend so I can't promise that i'll be able to update like I usually do on Sundays, but i'll try!**

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"Lucy!" Natsu took a step towards the door, his hand on his stomach trying to make the self-induced nausea disappear.

Porlyusica put the broom back to where it first rested. "Well, I assume you'll want to spend the night here."

"We can always-" Gray hesitantly pointed to the door.

"Well you're sleeping upstairs because I hate humans! Now the least you can do is help me with dinner since i'm now cooking for five instead of one!" The woman walked over to the kitchen, mumbling to herself.

Erza placed a hand on Natsu's shoulder. "Just give her some time." He looked towards the door once more, fighting the strong urge to go after her. He had messed up again. He ruffled his hair with both hands in annoyment of himself and looked to the ground.

"Are you kids going to help me cut vegetables or not?!"

Lucy sat inside the base of a tree she had found, arms wrapped around her legs as she rested her face into her knees. When she was little she had formed the habit of hiding in small, dark places because when lights couldn't reach her, it meant no one else could as well. Her legs had fallen asleep long ago, but she still refused to move. She felt embarrassed after rushing out in the flurry of emotions, but now that she had cleared her head a little, she was trying to distract herself with going over the faces and personalities of everyone she had met at the guild. Her original plan was to wait until everyone at Porlyusica's was asleep, but her attention transitioned elsewhere as she could hear footsteps approaching. Quickly she moved to the back of the opening of the tree, pulling her legs in tightly. Trying to quiet her breathing and become as still as possible, Lucy wished for the figure to pass, hopefully as unable to see through the dark forest as she could. The crunch of the leaves and twigs was now drawing nearer and nearer as her heart began to race. Lucy could make out the outline of the figure's legs, about ten feet from the tree. _Even if I sprint now, I'm not sure I could outrun them._

The figure turned it's body towards the tree. "Lucy?"

Lucy blinked a few times, relaxing slightly. "Natsu?" She responded, still inside the trunk.

He walked over to her and squatted in front of the opening, still having to slightly lean down. "Why are you hiding?" He laughed.

"I thought you might be a bad guy!" She was thankful for the darkness concealing her blush. "How'd you find me anyways?"

He tapped his nose joyfully. "Dragon senses. Now come out of there, I brought you dinner." Lucy could now see a wooden bowl he held in his hand as her stomach gave an involuntary growl. Natsu laughed again, and her blush deepened as he stepped out of the way of the opening as she crawled out, not standing but moving over to lean against the outside of the tree. Natsu sat down to the left of her as Lucy took the bowl of soup into her own hands.

She took a spoonful, neither pleased nor displeased by the dish. _It's kind of cold, but I guess that's what happens when you run off._

"It's cold, isn't it? Here." Natsu gently took the bowl back, letting it rest flat on his palm as his hand took on a low flame to heat the dish. He brought his left knee up to rest his other arm on, the light of his flame flickering across his face.

Lucy brought her legs up to her chest. "Natsu, I-"

"I wanted to say sorry." He interrupted, looking at her. "You know, for making you upset both at my house and here. I should have realized the connection between your name and the company." He handed the bowl back to her, the soup now letting off a light steam.

"What?! I should be the one apologizing. I ran out of there like an idiot, and you were even nice enough to bring me dinner. They should call me Lucy, the master of first impressions. Has a ring, don't you think?" She took a spoonful of the soup, instantly feeling better.

He let out a slight chuckle. "I think you would have a hard time of living up to the title. You can only give a person so much shocking new information."

Lucy swallowed a few more sips of the soup letting the moments tick by. "Natsu, what was Igneel like? Was he a good man?" It was now her turn to look directly at him, as he now was preoccupied with a small flame in his palm, providing dim light for the two.

He smiled. "No, he was a terrible man. Awful man."

"What? Oh, i'm so sorry!"

His smile widened. "That's because Igneel was a dragon. Great father, great dragon. Terrible at being human you could say."

Lucy's mouth hung open, the spoon hanging halfway between the bowl and her as she stared at him. Natsu quickly encased his own mouth around the spoon, eating it's contents. Lucy pulled it away and out of his mouth as he let out a few hearty laughs from her reactions. "Come on, who did you think taught dragon-slaying magic?"

"Other dragon-slayers I guess...? Well this is all still new to me!" She quickly added, noting his expression.

"Well to answer your question in a way, he was a good father until all the dragons simultaneously disappeared one day. And when I find him, I shall be very happy." Lucy smiled at his positive attitude, taking another sip of the soup. "Erza and Gray grew up without their biological parents as well, so if you ever need to talk to any of us, we're here for you."

She set the now empty bowl and spoon aside on the ground and played with her fingers in her lap. "I don't know how it works here, but back home life isn't exactly easy with no parent or guardian figures. They'll shuffle you around from home to home hoping you'll mesh well with strangers, and when that doesn't work out, soon they give up. Eventually you're just expected to take care of yourself with no warning." Lucy placed her hand on top of his. "Thanks."

Interrupting their moment, a strong gust of wind came through the forest, Lucy quickly retracting her hand so that she could wrap her arms around herself for warmth. Natsu jumped up, igniting one of his fists as a torch for light. "Come on, let's go back to where it's warm and we can sleep." He offered his hand out to help her up.

Placing her hand in his she stood up and brushed off her skirt, following Natsu back to the dwelling. "To be honest I'm glad you came and got me. Who knows if I would have been able to find my way back?" She joked as they began up the stairway.

"You can always count on me, Luce." He smiled back at her before extinguishing his hand and carefully opening the door.

Her face immediately broke out into an extremely deep blush as she followed him inside. She was grateful for the darkness._Could dragon-slayers sense when someone is blushing? Is that a thing?_

Natsu led them to a ladder across the room by the bookshelf which he indicated for her to go first, trying to be polite. She shook her head and pointed to her skirt, attempting to be quiet because the others were sleeping. He rolled his eyes and gave a small huff, climbing up and onto the wooden area that was about half the size of the oval main floor. Lucy climbed up as Natsu indicated towards two sleeping bags next to a slumbering Gray and Erza. Natsu removed his shoes and shimmied into the closer one to their friends, trying to get comfortable. She followed, removing her boots and crawled into the one next to him, turning over so her back was to him.

A small whisper came from behind her. "Night, Luce."

"Night, Natsu." She pulled up the sleeping bag to cover her mouth, too tired to dream that night.


	6. Magic Firsthand

**Wooo thanks for being patient with me about this chapter. It's just been super busy here with all of my professors laying on the workload! Anyways, reviews mean I update faster, so please do! Thanks for reading!**

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"You're not allowed to hang around all day! Get up, i'll explain what needs to happen, and then you have to promise to get out!" A voice yelled from the lower level, obviously busy with something from all the clattering coming from down there. Lucy groaned, not read to give up her pleasant dreams so easily. Something was tickling her nose, causing her to instinctively brush it away absentmindedly. When that planned failed, she gave the object a good push away, her hand coming into contact with a solid surface. Confused, she opened her eyes to her hand pressed against Natsu's back, his muffler draped over his shoulder and partially trapped between the two. Lucy's eyes shot wide with surprise as she instinctively snapped her hand back and rolled away to lay on her stomach to cover her blush.

_Oh my god! Was I cozying up to him in the middle of the night?! That is so embarrassing! _She could hear the rustle of someone else and decided to sneak a peek up, Gray and Erza obviously responding to Porlyusica's voice when Lucy and Natsu did not. Deciding to risk another look at Natsu, she noticed his tan muscular back and could see it rise and fall with his deep breathing, her mind snapping into focus after a little admiration. _He's not wearing a shirt! He went to sleep with a shirt! Oh my god! _She buried her face back into the ground of the sleeping bag, waiting for the blush to pass.

"Lucy, Natsu, time to wake up." Erza commented, passing the two and throwing the sleeping bags she and Gray had been sleeping in into her wagon on the lower level. She climbed down the ladder and could be heard making small talk with Porlyusica. Lucy decided her emotions were now well enough hidden to fake her awakening with a small stretch as she moved on to unzip the sleeping bag and begin to roll it up. Gray began to poke Natsu with his foot, hands placed on his hips.

"Up and at 'em, sunshine!" He gave a slight kick, Natsu rolling over unconsciously and now facing towards Lucy. "Oh no you don't!" Gray yelled, kicking Natsu with more force this time to his lower back.

"You try that one more-!" Natsu shot up, blinking and observing his surroundings. He looked at Gray and then Lucy, smiling when he saw her. "Gray for christ's sake will you put on some pants? It's too early."

Gray gasped at his own appearance and began to put on the lost clothing. "Speak for yourself!"

Natsu looked down at his bare chest. "Is it contagious!?" Quickly scrambling for his vest, he paused to smell the air as he put it on. "Breakfast?" He jumped towards the downstairs, Gray chasing after him.

"Oi! Don't eat everything already!"

Lucy sighed and decided to roll up the other sleeping bag as well, tossing them onto the cart as she saw Erza do. Quickly checking up on her appearance and fixing her hair, she went to join the others. She climbed down the ladder slowly, carefully trying not to expose beneath her skirt as she did so. A small table was set for the five of them as she turned around, an open seat waiting for her with a full plate next to Natsu as Erza and Gray sat across, Porlyusica sitting at the head.

She sat down and dug into the green eggs, having to fend off various tricks from Natsu and Gray in attempts to steal her food. Erza scolded them each time as Porlyusica sat quietly over her finished plate. Once everyone was done eating, a short silence arose and as everyone understood it was time to get down to business.

"Don't run off on me again this time. I need you out of here so I can get back to my work." The pink haired woman folded her hands on the table, looking directly at Lucy.

"I'm sorry. We'll listen to what you have to say and then get out as soon as possible." Lucy nodded, her hands anxiously placed in her lap.

"Very well then." The woman stood up and briskly walked over to a shelf, pulling out a red and gold book, it's condition very weary. Wiping off some of the dust that remained on it before sitting down again, Porlyusica placed it on the table and opened it gently to a page she already had in mind. Pulling out half moon reading glasses and putting them on, she began reading with a steady tone. "We do not know when the link between the two worlds came to be, many of the early celestial mages disappearing to never return after it had been discovered in the river of the stars. The first acclaimed return was the celestial mage Galileo Galilei in the year R-784, spreading rumors of the alleged 'science' that consumed their world. His notes and works were burned by the empire for conspiracy."

Lucy took the brief moment of pause to jump in with her own questions. "Wait! Galileo? He was famous on Earth as one of the greatest scientists of all time. Obviously he figured out a way to go between worlds so why would they burn his work? And how long ago is R-784?"

"Give or take, about a thousand years. Between the generations of R and X, people were too busy trying to survive among the dragons that a lot of information was lost."

"Ahem" Porlyusica loudly cleared her throat.

"Sorry." Lucy curved her shoulders and lowered her head in apology.

"I'll get to the point then if you're so eager to chat." She began turning the old paper pages in a delicate fashion, scanning her eyes for the information she was looking for. "To cross between the two worlds is a secret among the celestial wizards, passed down through generations of families. For outsiders to know is forbidden on terms of death." Swiftly closing the book she stood up to place it back on the self.

Natsu threw his hands up in frustration. "You're telling me we came all the way here and it's a SECRET?! Why didn't you just tell us that in the first place when we got here!?"

"Because," Porlyusica responded with authority, "I was debating on whether giving you _this_or not." She walked over and stood next to Lucy, handing her a thin, wide wooden box.

"What is it?" She inspected the box and it's intricate details, golden swirls among a silver background that captured her attention.

"If you're not going to open it here and find out then you can be on your way. I hate humans." She grumbled, collecting everyone's dirty plates and walking to the sink to clean them.

Slowly, Lucy unhatched the beautiful box and lifted it's cover to find a golden key, it's bow the face of an angry beast with a red symbol in the middle on a white background. It's bit was sharp and curved into a design Lucy thought wasn't very fit for a keyhole.

"What does it belong to?" Picking it up, she examined it more carefully in the light.

"That's a celestial gate key." Erza responded. "To one of the 12 zodiacs. So the question is, more like _who_does it belong to."

Porlyusica called from over her shoulder. "That is the key to the gate of the lion, Leo. Hold it out in the air, and pretend like you're unlocking a door."

Lucy followed the instructions hesitantly, repeating it a few times when nothing happened.

"You have to tell it to open or else it won't."

"Open please?" She turned the key in the air, still nothing happening.

"The full name!" The woman shouted back, not turning to look as she continued to scrub dishes.

"Open, gate of the lion? . . .Leo?" Instantly, a large golden light emitted from the key as Lucy covered her eyes, a figure appeared to be standing on top of the table when she could see once again.

"Loke?!" Gray and Natsu cried in unison as Erza's eyes were wide with surprise.

The man scratched the back of his head with a smile. "Oh hey guys. Why am I on top of a table?"

"Y-you just- I JUST-" Lucy stared, mouth agape at the key she was holding and then back up to the man.

He bent down in front of her on the table, placing on hand on Lucy's face, stroking it gently. "Am I so fortunate to have such a beauty summon me?"

Natsu pulled the man's hand away from her face and forced him towards the ground. "Get off of the table. And why are you here?!"

He fixed his tie a bit and straightened up, Lucy turning around in her seat to be able to look at him. "Funny story about that. I'm actually a zodiac. Leo, the lion if you want to be technical"

"And Lucy summoned you just now?" Gray asked.

He looked to the blonde, her mind still trying to comprehend someone appearing out of thin air by her own hand. "Lucy, is it? A name so fitting for a beautiful lady." He reached out to her hand, lifting it up to his lips, placing a soft kiss on the back of it. Lucy's face instantly turning red as he released her hand.

"If you're pleased with yourselves, get out! My house already smells like human enough."

"Loke," Erza stood up from the table. "You can talk with us as we walk back to the guild. I'm sure everyone would be happy to see you again."

The others followed her lead and stood up from the table as well, Lucy still glancing at the key suspiciously. Erza grabbed her wagon and began out the door, everyone saying thank you as they passed. Loke and the other three were obviously catching up with each other outside as Lucy lingered a bit by the door. "Thank you for everything. I'm sorry we bothered you." She took hold of the knob and began to close it as she turned away, a sudden resistance meeting the door. She looked back to see Porlyusica keeping it slightly open.

"I can't help you from here, so don't come back!"

"I-"

"But good luck, Lucy." Porylusica gave her a gentle expression, only really smiling with her eyes. Lucy smiled back as the door shut behind her and she jogged to catch up with the others.

Lucy took a backseat and decided to let others do all the talking this time as she watched Erza, Gray, and Natsu all reminisce with every conversation beginning with "do you remember when...?!" And how they usually ended up with someone breaking something. It was fun to hear all the stories they told and how to her these would be stories for books but they were their everyday lives. Lucy made a mental note to jot down some of their adventures to tell people if she ever got home.

"Oh my gosh! I haven't even told you how we know each other!" Loke suddenly stopped and whirled to look at her, his face a combination of guilt and disbelief.

She gave her hands a little shake in mid air towards him and continuing forward so they wouldn't lose daylight. "Oh! It's okay! This is much more interesting and you guys obviously have been apart for a while."

Gray stroked his chin. "You disappeared around two years ago I guess?"

"Loke was in Fairy Tail with us." Erza added.

"Wait a minute!" Natsu walked closer to Loke and started inspecting him. "So you've really been a celestial key guy this whole time?!"

"Technically I didn't ever say I _wasn't _one..." Loke scratched the back of his head with a smile.

Lucy looked down the key in her palm, wrapping her fingers around it. "So where are the others then?"

"Scattered around the world. Some may be together if they're in possession of another celestial wizard. I'm not allowed to tell you where they are though."

Lucy nodded. "That makes sense."

They continued on, making good time throughout the day as they reached one of the final roads to Magnolia, the sun's placement leading Lucy to believe it was probably around mid afternoon. The conversation seemed to steer back at her again as more questions about Earth were fired out, one after another. _I guess from an outside perspective Earth is pretty interesting. _

"So you're telling me," Natsu speculated. "That these plane _things_fly people _long_distances, and you're just trapped inside of it really high up in the air?" He shook his head in disgust. "These sound worse than trains!"

"What's wrong with trains?" Lucy asked, Erza, Gray, and Loke all laughing at Natsu's outcry.

"Hothead gets motion sickness." Gray placed his hands in his pockets, smirking.

"It can't be _that _bad, can it?"

Gray gave another laugh. "Oh it's bad alright. If he's that bad on trains I can't even begin to imagine him on one of your transportations."

Natsu's face began to droop, his mouth and eyelids dropping heavily with every second. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Shame," Lucy pouted. "My feet kind of hurt and I could really go for a-"

"Carriage?" Erza finished.

"Not exactly what I had in mind, but-"

Erza smiled and pointed ahead with her free hand. "No, I mean an actual carriage."

Lucy followed her gaze to the approaching object from the opposite direction in the fork in the road that led to Magnolia. She gave a small squeal of excitement. "It has six horses and everything! No one really uses them around Earth anymore! Do you think we could catch a ride?"

"I'd be down for not walking the rest of the way." Gray shrugged.

"A romantic carriage ride with my new summoner? How fitting?" Loke pushed some of his hair aside, throwing a smile at Lucy. His flirtation would take some getting used to.

Natsu exaggeratingly crossed his arms. "I think we should walk! We're almost there anyways!"

"You're out voted." Erza said with a satisfied look on her face. "If they'll take us, we'll ask for a ride."

Lucy immediately sprang into the air a few times as she waved her arms rapidly in a crossing motion to get the attention of the carriage. Slowly, it came to a stop up ahead where the two roads met to continue onto Magnolia. Smiling, Lucy called over her shoulder as she ran ahead to talk to the carriage driver. "I'll go ask!" She jogged the 30 feet ahead, her heart beating slightly faster from the excitement as she remembered all the stories she read as a child with princesses being swept away in grand carriages came to mind. As she came to a walk she came into sight of the carriage driver and pulled a few stray pieces of hair behind her ear to try to look friendlier to the man who sat perched up high. The man looked to be in his late twenties, with dirty blonde hair that came down to his ears, somewhat hidden beneath a cowboy hat. He smiled at Lucy with a cigarette perched carefully in his mouth, his stubble adding to his handsomeness.

The man held the reins of the carriage with one hand and took a deep inhale of his cigarette with the other, pulling it away to exhale the smoke through his deep southern accent. "Why hello there pretty lady. What can I do you for?"

"My friends and I were wondering if you might give us a ride the rest of the way to Magnolia? It's alright it you can't there's five of us plus a wagon but it's not that heavy but i've never ridden in a carriage before and-"

The man gave another wider smile. "I reckon we can make room for a few friends of a lovely daffodil like yourself. Hop on in. Your first carriage ride," he took another short drag of the cigarette, slowly enunciating his words. "Will _blow you away._**"**

Lucy responded with a wide grin. "Thanks! I'll tell my friends to hurry up!" She walked back to face the others, waving her arms in hopes that they would speed up to not be rude. "He says it's okay!"

Even from a distance she could hear the groan of Natsu and the laugh of the others. Lucy turned back to the carriage and opened the door, placing one foot on the stepping bar and pausing to smile at her friends once again.

"You're cute." A strange voice came from inside the carriage, capturing Lucy's attention. A man who also looked to be in his late twenties sat before her, dressed in a pinstripe suit. His bright blue eyes contrasted with his tanned skin and short black hair. He seemed to be twirling a match in between his white gloved fingers. "I guess it's my lucky day."

Lucy was about to ask what he meant as the match in the man's hand suddenly caught fire and he raised it to his lips, as if blowing out towards her, as a massive explosion suddenly sent her flying from the side of the carriage out to the edge of the road. Lucy felt the whiplash of her body hit the hard ground as the breath was taken from her lungs and the impact towards her head produced white spots in her vision.

"LUCY!" Natsu immediately cried, unable to see either the carriage or Lucy due to the smoke from the blast. Blindly sprinting in, the others immediately followed leaving their bags behind.

Gray coughed a few times inside the cloud of smoke, trying to wave it away. "What happened?!"

"I don't know." Erza's head swiveled looking for clues, the cloud's smoke still thick and impairing their vision.

"Fuck this smoke!" Natsu cried, he exhaled the air in his lungs before taking a deep breath, consuming all the smoke into his stomach to make their vision clear again. To their left stood the cowboy and pinstriped man both grinning in front of the carriage, Lucy stirring on the ground a few more feet ahead and to the right. "Lucy!" Natsu ran over to her, kneeling by her side.

She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to regain focus as she slowly sat up, her limbs definitely feeling the effect of the blast. "I'm fine. Just give me a minute." She saw his worried face and attempted a small smile to help calm him down.

"You bastards!" Loke clenched his fists, yelling at the two men. "You'll pay for that!"

The cowboy took another drag of the cigarette and threw the butt on the ground, not bothering to stomp it out. Tilting his hat up to get a better look at them, he grimaced. "And here I thought y'all would be more pretty ladies."

"But I guess we'll compromise for two. You boys can go." The pinstriped man twirled the match in between his gloved index finger and thumb, eyeing it thoughtfully.

Gray's eye twitched in annoyance. "Come again?"

"_Requip: Flight Armor!_**" **Erza chanted, changing into the cheetah printed armor meant to enhance her speed, positioning herself in a defensive stance.

"I think I heard loud and clear." Loke pushed up his glasses and lunged at the two men, Gray and Erza following suit. Natsu looked frantically between Lucy and the fight, obviously torn between making sure she was okay and beating the men to a pulp.

With a grunt, Lucy pushed herself to stand up and regained her balance, Natsu rising as well. "Go ahead, i'm fine." She smiled again, Natsu's fists clenching as he nodded and turned, leaping into the fray as well.

Erza seemed to be swinging at the pinstriped man in her armor of speed but still couldn't land a single hit, his face entirely disinterested in the action at hand. Near them, Gray and Loke were exchanging fair blows with the cowboy, who was using a magical whip that was seemingly changing sizes and cutting straight through Gray's ice magic. He smiled, unable to see Natsu jumping towards him before the fire mage landed a strong punch directly to his mid back, sending him flying forward a few feet. Gray used this opportunity to create ice chains that bound him to the ground as Loke kicked the whip away from him. With the cowboy trying to recover from Natsu's attack and break free from Gray's chains, the three men turned towards the pinstriped man where Erza seemed to be panting trying to catch up to him to deliver a hit, while he seemed completely composed and bored. "Surely this can't be all you have?"

"It's four against one." Loke barked at the man. "I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you."

The man raised an eyebrow, the gears in his head spinning for a moment before a wicked smile broke out on his face. "Say's the team leaving their mascot completely vulnerable."

"What?" Erza realized a moment too late as the man moved in the blink of an eye right next to Lucy who had been watching from afar. She took a step back in fear as he took hold of the front of her shirt and lifted her off the ground.

"Lucy!" Loke was halfway between the two groups before he glanced down to his own fist which had begun to disappear, golden sparkles drifting into the air. "No! Lucy!" His body disappearing completely into the wind.

Lucy's vision began to blur as the man gave out a sinister laugh. "Out of magic so soon? Such a pity." The man pulled his other hand back, a single match in between his fingers, as he then released it towards Lucy, a small explosion erupting the moment he punched her stomach. Lucy gave an involuntary cough of blood, her hands leaving the grip of the man's wrist to try to cover her mouth.

"Damn you!" Natsu gritted his teeth, engulfing his entire body in flames as he ran towards the man.

He looked to Natsu and then back at Lucy, exhaling with annoyance. "This will be bothersome." The man quickly moved ten feet to the right as Natsu's swing missed to where he would have been standing. Regaining his balance he charged again as the man brought Lucy closer to whisper in her ear. "Until next time, madam." Releasing her, he was gone within the blink of an eye. Lucy closed her eyes and braced for another hard impact with the ground, only to be caught by Natsu at the last moment.

Natsu looked down to her, his eyes shocked by the blood that ran from the sides of her mouth and the bottom half of her shirt being burned off from the punch, revealing a deeper burn on her stomach. "We need to get you to Wendy so she can heal your wounds. You hold on, all right?"

She gave him a small, weak smile to agree before her expression turned to embarrassment when she realized how he was holding her in his arms so effortlessly. Lucy could have punched herself if she didn't already feel so miserable. How could she possibly be blushing at a time like this?

Gray and Erza rushed over, inspecting Lucy for themselves. "We were too careless." Erza commented, looking at her condition.

"The fastest way back to the guild is by using the carriage those two were using." Gray saw Natsu's angry expression, quickly continuing before he could say anything. "We don't have time to argue."

Natsu looked to the carriage, something clicking in his mind. "The cowboy is gone."

"What?" Erza and Gray said in unison as they turned to see Gray's ice chains broken, the whip and cowboy long gone.

"He must have gotten away in the explosion." Gray agreed. "We'll talk about it later. Lucy isn't looking that good."

Natsu and Erza looked to Lucy once again, a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead as her breathing became more shallow. Rushing to the carriage, Gray opened the door for Natsu to carry Lucy inside, Erza taking the reins up front as Gray shut the door on them and joined her. Natsu laid Lucy down carefully on the seat beside him in the luxurious carriage, her head gently placed on his lap as he looked down at her, a worried expression on his face. The carriage set in motion as his attention suddenly turned to the window then back to her, his hand instinctively grabbing hers.

Lucy managed a smile, Natsu looking down at her in disbelief. _I wonder if that's to comfort me or him._

"Why are you smiling?"

"It's my first time in a carriage and you're not getting motion sickness"

His mouth dropped open at her words, Lucy definitely recognizing a small blush appear on his face before her eyes shut themselves and she drifted to sleep.


	7. Silver Gates

**So I SHOULD be sleeping but once I started writing this chapter I just really didn't want to stop! Haha so now it's 1 am and i'm posting! Thanks for reading!**

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When your whole life has been centered around school and work, it will take some time to change your internal clock and subconscious. Lucy stirred in her sleep, her body turning just enough towards the window that the light directly shone down onto the back of her eyelids, awakening the blonde. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, slightly recoiling from the light. Light? Lite? Late? LATE! Instincts taking over, Lucy immediately threw off the covers and jumped out of the bed, assuming the pain shooting through her body was from a stiff night's sleep. Changing at the speed of light, Lucy rain around the room in a panic, her frustration growing. "WHERE IS MY BACKPACK!?" Of course in her flurry Lucy didn't see the shirt she had previously discarded in a hurry as she slipped on it, falling on her back to the ground.

Lucy rolled to one side curling up into a ball as she held her head gingerly, cursing under her breath. Just behind her, the door flew open to Natsu, Lucy looking up to meet his concerned eyes. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna be late for school!" She rolled onto her stomach and pushed herself up quickly, immediately regretting the action as her hands rushed to the pain in her side. Lucy's eyes went wide as a wave of realization crashed over her. She looked around at her surroundings, remembering where she actually was as her panic withered away.

Natsu blinked, shaking his head in confusion. "You're weird."

"I just thought-"

"And you're still healing! Why are you rolling around like that?!" Natsu moved closer to her, his concerned expression returning as his hands moved like claws of frustration.

However Natsu's words were in vain as she turned her head to look out the window, her hands still holding her wound even though the pain had subsided. Her thoughts were elsewhere, cluttered with images of the fight, images of home, and the events of Porlyusica's.

"Hellllo? Luce? Are you even listening?" Natsu rolled his eyes at the lack of response. "I'll get your backpack." He exited the room, Lucy still immersed in her thoughts. Absentmindedly she climbed back into the bed, sitting up straight as she leaned against the pillows and backboard. Natsu returned back into the room with her backpack underneath one of his arms as he plopped it onto the space where the other person would have slept in the queen size bed. After a few moments of Lucy continuing to stare out the window and not reacting to him, Natsu pushed the backpack aside to sit in it's place. Ignoring personal space he leaned over and placed his hand on her forehead.

Lucy immediately snapped back into reality to push Natsu's hand away and look at him, a blush creeping over her face. "What are you doing?!"

"Checking to see if you had a fever! You're acting weird!"

"If you already think i'm weird then why is this news?!"

"You know what I mean!"

They stared each other down for a moment before Lucy sighed in resignation and averted her gaze. "Fine. I think I wanna go visit my family. Well, if we can find them. And if they'll let me." She shot a glance back towards Natsu, searching his eyes for judgement.

She found none, only his genuine smile revealing those sharp canines. "Sure, yeah, we can go."

"We? I'm already imposing enough as it is and aren't you busy with-"

"The guild?" He finished her sentence, shrugging off her concerns. "Actually an idea hit me while you were sleeping and-"

It was her turn to cut him off from his growing excitement as her curiosity took hold. "Wait, how long have I been asleep?"

"Eh like a few days I guess." He leaned back, changing his position so that he was sitting cross-legged as his hands moved in a flurry of excitement. "But that's not important! What I really wanted to say was-"

"What do you mean it's not important?! How many days is a few, Natsu?!"

"Two! Now would you-"

"Two days?!"

"Lucy would you let me speak i'm trying to convince you to join Fairy Tail!" He blurted out, breathing slightly heavier in frustration.

"What?" Her voice became much quieter as she now listened intently.

"Man, now Erza's gonna be angry I didn't pitch it her way." He groaned, cringing at the thought of the probability of being hit later on.

"Why would you want someone like me in Fairy Tail? I didn't even do anything in the fight." She looked down at her lap and clasped her hands in guilt.

"You know you only ran out of magic since Loke was around all day, and it was your first time ever using it. So you'll join, right?!"

"Yes, but-"

Natsu jumped up in excitement, grabbing her hand and immediately pulling towards the door. "Okay so let's go!"

"Ow! Natsu!" Unfortunately all he did was awkwardly pull her out of under the covers and across the bed, her torso already hanging off the opposite end when he heard her.

"Oh yeah, healing. Whoops." He released her hand immediately giving a small laugh.

Lucy pulled herself into a sitting position, narrowing her eyes at him. "Whoops my ass." She sighed and stood up heading towards the bathroom. "I'm gonna shower."

"Now?! But we should go down to the guild!" He cried in disbelief, following her out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

"I've been sleeping for two days and you want me to join a guild smelling awful?" She rolled her eyes as she pushed him back out of the bathroom, not understanding his logic in the whole thing. "Boys..."

"DRAGON HEARING, LUCY! SO NO, GIRLS!" He stormed away and jumped into his hammock, crossing his arms and muttering under his breath how she should just shower later.

Once again Lucy was surprised at the healing magic of this world. The burn from the pinstriped man was now just a deep bruise, and the rest of her cuts were now replaced with fresh pink skin. Showering however took a little longer than normal due to Lucy trying to avoid the hot water hitting the bruise and not succeeding very well. After what felt like hours to Natsu, she had finally deemed herself ready for the day as they headed to the guild. Lucy was greeted with worried faces and smiles that she was finally awake.

"Oh Lu-Chan we heard what happened!" Levy threw her arms around the blonde, catching her by surprise. "I should have gone with you!"

"And we're still unsure on how to get you home. Bah." Gray crossed his arms over his bare chest in frustration.

"Yeah yeah, we can talk about all this after Lucy official joins Fairy Tail!" Levy detached from Lucy as Natsu had begun to push her towards Mirajane at the bar. The others followed, excitement filling the air.

"You're joining Fairy Tail?!"

"Way to go, Lucy!"

"We'll officially be nakama now."

"We should throw a party!"

Lucy's head was spinning from all the voices and pats on the back. "Wait, but we haven't even asked Master Makarov yet!" She tried to argue as half the guild now surrounded her and the bar.

Natsu slung his arm around her shoulder. "Gramps and I already talked it over, so now all that's left is the color and placement of the mark!"

Lucy looked over to see the old man sitting cross legged on top of the bar counter sipping a drink. Pulling it away from his lips, he gave her a big smile and a wink, confirming Natsu's claim.

Mirajane's voice pulled her attention back to in front of her, where the white haired beauty stood smiling with a type of stamper. "So Lucy, what shall it be?"

Natsu withdrew his arm from around her shoulder, leaning on the countertop with one arm, his torso facing Lucy while she thought about the question for a moment. "Pink I guess." Natsu's eyebrows raised up in surprise as he tried to suppress the blush creeping across his face. Lucy contemplated for a few more moments as Mira changed the stamper's color dial. "I guess on the back of my hand is good." Extending her hand across the bar counter, Mira gently took hold of it and pressed the device to the back of her hand.

Pop!

The guild erupted into cheers as Lucy retracted her hand and began studying the pink mark carefully. A wide grin broke across her face.

"Let's party!" And there goes Gray's pants.

The only party Lucy had ever gone to before was a small dinner party for Tiana's birthday, which was nice, but could never even compare to this. Lucy was convinced even the legendary high school parties weren't this much fun. She had been caught up in the excitement and energy of the guild, eating delicious food and dancing the rest of the day and night away. She had even tried a sip of beer! Of course only a sip .She had also had Loke out for a decent amount of time to let him say hello to everyone again, but he was still upset about his master getting hurt. Long after dark had crept over the town, people finally began passing out all around the guild from exhaustion and drunkenness. Lucy had to shake Natsu awake from his sprawled sleep over a wooden table so that she could return to an actual bed, a task that almost got her punched in the face. But finally they were back in his home, Natsu crashing in his hammock before she had even finished shutting the door. Smiling, Lucy stepped over the many items on the floor before reaching the bedroom and changing. Crawling into bed, Lucy fell asleep with a smile from the exhausting day full of love from her new nakama.

Before she had realized it, a week had passed of her new daily life. She, Natsu, and Happy would all wake up and get ready before heading down to the guild and spending the whole day there eating, hanging out, and trying to track down the Heartfilia estate. Lucy explained to everyone how she believed they would be able to help her since they're a celestial mage family, hopefully willing to share the secret information with Lucy on how to return to Earth. Secretly, Lucy had more personal hopes of being reunited with the loving family she never had, but she kept this part to herself. Finally with an enormous amount of help from Levy, they figured out where it was, and the next day Lucy and Natsu set off to the train station.

Lucy played with the straps of the smaller backpack Levy had given her as a present for joining the guild. She was thankful that now she didn't have to carry that large camping one around. "So where's Happy going again?"

"With Charle and Wendy to where Cait Shelter used to reside. Wendy has been missing her old guild and wants to go back to see if they might've left anything behind she can take back to Magnolia." Natsu and Lucy waited in line for their tickets, Lucy taking in her environment while remembering Wendy's story.

"How sad..."

"She has us now! Losing people is hard, but with us she'll get through it."

Lucy nodded with a smile. "Yeah."

"Next!" Natsu and Lucy moved to the front of the line to buy their two tickets west of Magnolia, the train station bustling with noise. Lucy stared down at her ticket and up to the signs looking confused, Natsu lost in his own thoughts until he saw her expression.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"I-I just don't know where to go." She gave him a half smile, feeling embarrassed.

"Just read the signs, no big deal." Natsu pointed to a large sign above them, jumbled with arrows and strange letters that seemed arabic looking to her.

"I can't read that."

"You can't read? You told me you loved to read!"

Lucy let out a sigh. "I CAN read! Just not Fioran. Not..." She waved her hand in the direction of the sign. "THAT."

"Ooooooooh! Is that what you're upset about? Well you can just always ask someone next time. People don't mind helping pretty girls."

"LAST CALL! ALL ABOARD!"

The heat rushed to Lucy's face. "You think i'm-?"

Not hearing her, Natsu grabbed her hand and quickly began running through the throng of people. "That's our train!" Of course the moment Natsu and Lucy reached the locomotive, Natsu began having second thoughts about boarding, trying to convince Lucy they should walk all the way to the estate. Handing a man their tickets, she pushed him aboard and they found themselves a booth. The train finally left the station and they were off, Natsu immediately being rendered immobile from his travel sickness and therefore not being a very good travel partner, leaving Lucy to her thoughts. She didn't feel lonely here anymore, and only felt like an outsider occasionally, like seeing a fruit or animal she had never heard of or being forced to read. The feelings in her stomach right now however was an entirely different story, her nerves reduced to nothing as she came closer and closer to meeting her family. Unsure whether she wanted the train to go faster so she could meet them sooner or for it to slow down since she was so nervous, she found the two hour train ride was over before she knew it.

"Natsu." She shook his shoulder gently. "The train stopped. Let's go." Placing on her backpack she exited the train, waiting outside on the platform for him to get off. That is until the train door shut and it began moving again. "Wait!" Lucy yelled instinctively, realizing it's useless to try and stop a whole train or to yell at inanimate objects. Trying to think of something, she ran along the side of the train until she found the window to the booth they had been sitting at, Natsu now sitting up on his bench but still holding his head between his hands in sickness. Running faster to keep up with the train, she banged on the window a few times. "Natsu!" Of course he reacted slowly to the noise, and Lucy was running out of platform. With one last hit on the window, Lucy gave up running alongside the now quick moving machine, and reached the edge of the platform. Great. There he goes.

Groaning to herself, she headed back inside the station and sat down on a bench, rubbing her temples in frustration. Should I wait for him here? But how long would that take? What if he doesn't even get off on the next stop? Weighing her options, Lucy finally decided that she had made it this far and should continue on to the estate, Natsu present or not. Unsure of where to go, Lucy took Natsu's advice and decided to ask for directions since she had no idea where to go from here.

She had settled asking an older chimney sweeper, because he looked like an honest hardworking man and Lucy always loved Mary Poppins as a child. "Well are you looking for the property or the estate?"

"Is there a difference?" She asked hesitantly, not wanting to somehow offend the man.

He gave a hearty laugh, the corners of his moustache turning up. "Well I take it you mean the estate since they own the whole town. Go down this road and turn left on Licati Lane, until you see large silver gates. Can't miss 'em."

"Uhm, okay. Thank you!" She gave a small wave and set off, following the man's directions. How rich can a family be to own a whole town? How do you even OWN a town? And Lucy regarded it as a nice town at that. She had been admiring the beautiful architecture and happy people when she reached the large silver gates, overtaken by their detail and beauty. She lifted her hand slowly to touch the shining metal when a blaring voice startled her.

"MRS. LAYLA-SAMA!"

"Hello?" Lucy looked around for the voice, confused of where it came from until it voiced itself again from above.

"Mrs. Layla-sama oh i'll send a carriage to pick you up right away! Welcome home!" Lucy had finally pinpointed the noise, it coming from the horn between a crafted angel on the top of the gate. Lucy guessed it was some type of intercom system.

"Home...?" A small spark of hope lit up inside Lucy. The voice didn't speak again, but as promised, a luxurious carriage was there within minutes to pick her up. Thank heavens too, for Lucy hadn't realized the long dirt road that had laid ahead. She had been impressed by the town and the gate, but the actual estate was an entirely different story. Miles of garden stretched up to a large luxurious mansion, a childhood fantasy before her very eyes. Not a moment before the carriage driver had opened her door for her a small posse of people surrounded her jumping with excitement.

"Oh Mrs. Layla it's so good to see you!"

"You haven't aged a day!"

"We were so worried!"

"I'm not-" Lucy tried to protest with no avail.

"Not seeing Master Jude-sama is right! We need to get you fed and changed!"

Lucy was ushered into the large mansion and directed to a large changing room as they called it, obviously too fancy and large to simply labeled a closet. There, she ended up picking a large red gown adorned with beads as someone else did her hair. As she ate the most delicious soup in her life inside a grand dining hall, she found many of the servants were ecstatic to see her, four in particular bawling over her return. Spetto the maid, Ribbon a librarian, Aed the cook, and Bero, who presented her with a total of eight celestial keys, three golden ones and five silver ones. Lucy didn't have it in her heart to tell them she wasn't whoever Layla was, so she went along with it until she could meet her father. After they learn i'm their lost daughter, everything will work out in the end and I can just return the keys, right?

Lucy wiped her lips of any remains of the soup and set the napkin on top of her plate as a maid took it away. "I'd like to see Jude now please."

Spetto nodded vigorously. "Certainly. Follow me and i'll announce your arrival." Lucy stood and followed the small maid through the mansion, noting how it felt vast and endless. She had been hoping to maybe see another family member walking around, but had no such luck.

A hundred servants for a nearly empty home.

After walking up a grand staircase, Spetto and Lucy approached massive double wooden doors, Spetto knocking three times before poking her head in. "Master Heartfilia, Layla has returned. Lucy heard something drop. "Go ahead." Spetto winked at her and skipped away, obviously in a delightful mood. Lucy stood there for a moment, her heart beating a million miles an hour. Taking a deep breath, she slipped through the crack of the doors and into a large office, books lining it's two story high walls. Behind a large mahogany desk took a well dressed man, deep lines etched into his face, and hard eyes that examined Lucy.

"Layla..." His face grew soft for a moment as he looked from Lucy to a large painting on one of the walls behind her. Lucy turned to see what he was looking at, gasping at what she saw. There, a massive painting of the man stood beside a woman identical to herself, holding what looked like a newborn infant in her arms surrounded in blankets.

That must be Layla... No wonder they think i'm her...

Lucy turned back to the man, his softened expression giving her courage to speak. "Actually, my name is Lucy. I-I think i'm your daughter."

Apparently this was the wrong to say, his face contorting in anger. "Get out. Get out!"

Panic arose in Lucy. "Wait! I don't think you understand! I'm your daughter! I-I've waited my whole life to meet you! We-we're family!" Tears began to form in her eyes. Everything was going wrong. This wasn't supposed to be happening.

"I have no family!" He turned away from her to look out the large window behind his desk. "You and that woman are not my family. You're dead to me."

Lucy took a staggering step backward, the walls seeming to cave in as her breathing became sporadic. Bolting out the door, Lucy ran through the halls of the hollow mansion, feeling more like a prisoner now than a princess. As she reached the front door, the four caring faces that had greeted her so excitedly looked sad. Lucy slowed as she fumbled with the keys Bero had given her. He placed his hand on top of hers, steadying her shaking.

"We heard, Ms. Lucy. Keep them. They're yours."

Spetto walked closer and placed a hand on Lucy's cheek. "Oh, how hard it must've been for you." Stepping back again, she handed Lucy her backpack. Gripping it with one hand Lucy began to run again. Away from the mansion, away from Jude Heartfilia, and away from her lifelong dream. Only when she tripped on the hem of the large gown causing her to fall did she finally glance back. The way the sunset hit the gardens and mansion was beautiful, and enough to cause a new wave of emotion to sweep over her. Through the tears and sobs, Lucy picked herself up, pulling her hair out of it's bun and ripped away the front bottom of the dress, just enough so she wouldn't trip again. Running and running, Lucy finally reached the large silver gates and pushed through them, continuing down the road as the tears kept steadily flowing. She didn't even notice Natsu running towards her as she accidentally passed him, he catching hold of her wrist to turn her to face him.

"Can you believe I-?" His words faltered as he saw the tears spilling down her cheeks, her eyes full of pain. "Lucy, are you alright?"

She ripped her wrist from his hand in frustration. "I'll tell you what I am, Natsu! I-I'm fine! Fine without him! Fine with-with being alone! And i've been doing fine my whole life! I don't need him, I-I never have! I'm gonna go home and be successful and prove that you can still turn out fine if you grow up alone!" Lucy brought her hands to her face. "Why doesn't he want me, Natsu?"

Instantly he threw his arms around her and brought her close into to him, Lucy's sobs now muffled into his chest. Keeping his voice gentle and calm, Natsu tried to calm her down. "You're right, you did turn out fine. Better than fine. You're fantastic. But you're not alone anymore, Lucy. You have Fairy Tail. You have Levy and Gajeel. You have Mirajane, Cana, Wendy, and Happy. You have Erza and Gray. And you have me. You'll always have me."

Lucy had managed to stop crying, but held tight to Natsu's vest a moment longer. "Thanks, Natsu."

"I vote we head home. How does that sound?"

She stepped away from him, wiping any remnants of tears from her face. Natsu took her hand and began to lead them towards the train station, keeping the pace a slow walk. They remained silent that way until the train ride, where Natsu and Lucy had settled in a booth towards the back so that people wouldn't stare. Even though there were two booth benches, Lucy and Natsu decided to share one, Lucy placing her head on his shoulder. "Thanks. For everything." Closing her eyes, Lucy let emotional exhaustion finally grasp her, not caring if she and Natsu rode the train long after Magnolia, as long as it was away from here.

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**And now i've made myself sad. And i'm sorry if it feels like i'm just using exuses to get rid of Happy, Wendy, and Charle! I just find it so much easier to really only focus on a few characters at a time and I get writers block when Happy is around. Haha just a personal flaw I guess, i'll try to get over it. Anyways, sorry it's such a long chapter! I would chop it in two but it just didn't feel right. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Sakura Angel

**Does anyone else have those moods where they really want to finish the chapter but you're just really not feeling it? Err like you really just wanna get everything down but it seems like it's not flowing? That's how this chapter went for me haha. It's a little shorter than usual, but considering most of mine are pretty long, this will still seem long for some. Thanks for reading! **

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Lucy's pain and humiliation didn't end on the train that night, but she certainly had to act like it did. Dealing with herself was alright, she could get over it. However breaking the news to the guild about how she had no new leads seemed to sadden them just as much as it had did herself. Lucy hadn't told them about the encounter with her father, instead she had lied saying the family had died long ago, a strange successor merely carrying on the name.

"I'm sorry, Lucy. I know it would have meant a lot to you to meet them." Erza put a hand on her shoulder as a few of the guild mates sat around a wooden table.

"Thanks." Lucy placed on a smile, glancing across the table at Natsu whose intense eyes seemed to be staring her down. He knew she was lying to everyone, probably not agreeing with her about it, but thankfully wasn't voicing his opinion.

"So what next?" Gray said.

"What about asking another celestial mage?" Gajeel questioned. Levy and team shadow gear had taken up a mission, leaving him feeling lonely and slightly sour.

Lucy sighed. "Porlyusica made it clear that those who tell are punishable by death. I doubt anyone would be willing to help me, a stranger, at the risk of dying."

"I would!" Natsu flashed his canines in a large grin, Lucy laughing at his optimism.

"You can always count on Natsu to not consider the consequences." Gray sneered. Lucy had reached the point where she could no longer tell whether he _wanted _to simply fight all the time or it just happened.

Natsu narrowed his eyes towards the ice mage. "You saying you wouldn't help Lucy, ya ice prick?"

"I'm saying there are probably other possibilities here we're not thinking of, lizard brain!" Lucy had chosen a poor place to sit, the two mages now standing on the bench and yelling over her.

Luckily Erza was able to keep them in line. "Sit down, both of you." Natsu and Gray obeyed but continued to glare at each other, obviously discontent about not being able to fight. "Fighting won't help up figure this out."

"Well... Why don't we take a break from it then? You guys could take a mission or something while I try to think of more options?" Lucy suggested shyly. The blank stares from her friends made her feel self conscious, immediately wanting to take the words back.

Natsu was the first to speak. "You don't want to come with us?" He seemed hurt, taking her aback.

"Of course I would love to, Natsu!" She gushed, trying to clear up the meaning behind her words. "But I would never survive!"

"Wow, Lucy. I'm offended that you think we couldn't protect you." Gray pretended to wipe a tear away from his eye.

"Well, we all know it'd really be me protecting you, so there's nothing to worry about!" Natsu pushed out his chest, emphasizing the confidence in his abilities.

"I think Lucy would be able to protect herself." Erza smiled.

"Well _I _think that you should all _go _already! You're giving me a headache." Gajeel snickered, walking away from the table.

The three laughed, Natsu directing funny faces towards Gajeel's back. Erza ignored him. "If you're really that concerned, you should pick the mission so it's to your liking."

"I suggest avoiding cities." Gray joked, his shirt suddenly missing. "Natsu likes to burn those down."

Lucy laughed at Natsu's expression, standing from the table and pulling his arm. "Help me pick one out." Dragging him over to the request board, Lucy was able to see all the strange jobs that people advertized, most of them involving monsters and criminals.

Natsu pointed to one in the upper right corner. "How about taking down a giant barbegazi?"

"A what?" Lucy raised her eyebrow at him.

Natsu hunched his back over and stuck out his fangs, trying to example what it looks like. "You know, an ice troll. Kind of like Gray!"

"I HEARD THAT."

Lucy shook her head. "I'm not fighting something that i've never even heard of. In fact, let's avoid all the fighting and confronting ones." Lucy scanned the board a little more before ripping a request off. "Here, an escorting job for 300,000 jewels. I wonder how many dollars that is."

It was Natsu's turn to look at her questionably. "How many what?"

"Dollars. It's my country's currency. I don't really understand values and exchange rates here yet. Is 300,000 a lot?"

"Yes, which is good since i'm running out of money for food. Sounds boring but it'll do." He turned and cupped his hands around his mouth to yell at Mira behind the bar. "MIRA! We're taking the escorting one!"

"_Which_ escorting one, Natsu?" Lucy could feel Mira's sigh from across the guild.

Natsu turned back to Lucy, lowering his voice. "Which escorting one?"

Lucy laughed but ignored him and yelled to Mira herself. "To Togeroon!"

"Okay!" Mirajane continued to clean the glasses, humming to herself.

Lucy and Natsu walked back to the table to inform the others, Lucy inspecting the paper some more while Natsu looked over her shoulder. "Where's Togeroon?"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "How should I know? This is _your _country."

"It's an island, a little south of Galuna." Gray piped up.

"It's the last island in Fiore waters. Beyond that is Bosco territory, so we'll have to be careful not to accidentally sail there." Erza added.

Lucy and Natsu sat down at the wooden table as Lucy racked her brain to remember the map they had shown her the first day. "Where's Bosco again?"

Natsu slammed the table with excitement. "I know this one!" He turned to Lucy. "It's a country that borders us to the east, south of Seven."

Gray scoffed. "Do you want a gold star?"

Lucy cupped her hand over Natsu's mouth before he could reply, stopping the fight before it started. "Wait, why do we want to avoid Bosco Territory?"

Natsu muffled through her hand, but Erza responded as well making her ignore him. "Slave trade. Better to not encounter the problem at all then have to work it out later."

Lucy nodded in agreement. "So when do we leave?"

Moving her hand away from his mouth, Natsu jumped up in excitement. "Right now!"

And so they were off, the four of them gathering at the train station once they were all packed. Natsu had been bugging Lucy about how slow she had been going until they finally reached the station where he suddenly changed his mind, saying she shouldn't rush the mission and should walk to Hargeon instead. Naturally, his idea was rejected. The train ride seemed to pass in a heartbeat to Lucy, she had been so engulfed laughing with Erza and Gray while Natsu had been knocked out that she had lost track of time. As the four walked through the cobblestone streets, Lucy took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the ocean.

"Smells like home." A smile broke across her face.

"Did you live near the ocean?" Natsu inquired. She could tell he was trying to still be polite and not make her homesick, obviously ready to change the conversation any second.

"Yeah, although the weather isn't this warm all the time, and the buildings are _way _taller!" Lucy shot her hands up to emphasize her point, keeping her tone light to reassure Natsu she was fine talking about it.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "How tall?"

"I think the tallest one is like 850 feet? Around there?"

A jolt of surprise shot through Lucy as Erza grabbed her shoulders, a serious expression staring her down. "Lucy, has someone built a tower of heaven in your world?"

Lucy looked to Natsu and Gray for an explanation. Gray shrugged his shoulders. "Childhood thing."

Natsu nodded in affirmation. "Revives the dead."

Turning back to Erza, Lucy gave her a softening expression with a small laugh. "Our buildings can't revive anyone, but I appreciate the concern."

Erza removed her hands from Lucy's shoulders, her expression looking like just dodged a bullet. "That's good to hear."

Natsu scratched his head in confusion. "So what do you do with them then?"

"People work in them." Lucy received blank stares. "Like, in offices and at desks doing paperwork and talking to each other on phones." When the silence continued she decided to pull out her cellphone from her backpack. Lucy wasn't sure why she carried it around, but she guessed the habit grew on you when you're constantly keeping track of it at home. Upon sight of the small cellphone, the others let out a synchronized 'oooohhh'.

Natsu shuddered. "What an awful life!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "It's practical."

Natsu mumbled under his breath, "Practically death." Unfortunately for him Lucy heard this, giving him a good punch in the arm. "I didn't-!"

Erza laughed. "No fighting in the garden."

"Garden?" Lucy looked up to see where Erza had led them, finding they stood in the gateway of one of Hargeon's more popular gardens, flowers and trees stretching from wall to wall in an assortment of colors. Lucy's mouth fell open as she rushed inside to get a better look.

"This is where we're meeting the customer. Ah, there he is now." However Lucy wasn't listening, she was too busy speeding down the first aisle of plants, feeling as if she was Alice in Wonderland. Natsu looked to Erza, Gray, and the customer who had begun talking, and decided he could catch up on the information later. He jogged to catch up with Lucy, who was completely lost in her own thoughts.

"They're just plants you know."

Lucy blinked out of her daze. "What?"

"I said they're just plants." Natsu threw his hands behind his head, watching Lucy carefully as they walked down the aisles of plants together.

"But they're so pretty!" She stopped to inhale a strange purple flower's fragrance. "And they smell so _good._"

"I like the smell of vanilla and strawberries better."

Lucy laughed. "Of course you would be thinking about food."

Lucy didn't see the small blush creeping over his face as he dropped his arms. "Sure, food!"

Ignoring him, a large pink tree caught the corner of her eye. "I know that tree!" Her excitement skyrocketing, Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand to pull him along to get closer to the tree with her. They had reached the back of the garden now, where a long row of blooming sakura trees stood before the back wall, all towering over them. "Sakura trees..."

"We have this tree in Magnolia, didn't you see it?"

Lucy shook her head. "Guess not. And guess i'm missing the festival in San Francisco this year as well. It should be coming up soon and I doubt i'll be back in time to see it."

Natsu huffed. "Probably nothing compared to ours."

"Do you guys have a parade?" She teased.

"Does your tree glow?"

Lucy paused for a moment, knitting her eyebrows together. "What do you _mean_ glow?"

He leaned closer to her face smirking, knowing he had won the argument. "I mean at night, does your tree glow rainbow colors?"

Gasping, Lucy looked back to the tree. "You're kidding."

"Well, the ones in Magnolia only do it for one night a year, but these ones glow all year long."

Her eyes went wide as Lucy looked from him to the tree. Letting go of his hand she ran to the base of the tree and began inspecting it, testing her foot on some areas to see if it would support her weight. Natsu blushed. He had forgotten they had been holding hands. He shook the emotions from her face as Lucy continued to try to climb up the tree with no success. "What are you doing?"

"I want a branch! I think you're lying!"

He laughed and walked over to the base of the tree, Lucy still deep in concentration on how to possibly climb up. "Trust me when I say Hargeon gets upset about their plants being damaged. I don't think you're allowed to take a branch. Well, that's assuming you could get up there anyways." He smirked. Lucy stopped trying to climb, her face lowering into a pout. He laughed again. "Here, stand back." She did as instructed, taking a small step away from the tree. "Little more!" She stepped back again, the confusion growing on her face. Natsu turned to the tree, narrowing his eyes slightly. Lucy was about to ask what he was doing when he suddenly pulled his arm back and hit the tree with an enormous force, causing the tree to shake and thousands of sakura petals raining down on the both of them. Natsu looked at Lucy as the petals continued to fall. Her face was priceless. Lucy let out a small laugh that grew into an overwhelming joy, tears coming from her eyes from laughing so hard. Falling to the ground, Natsu ran over in concern, Lucy immediately moving her arms and legs across the ground.

She opened her eyes to his baffled expression. "It's a sakura angel!"

He blinked a few times, the same laughter hitting him that had struck Lucy moments ago. He flopped down next to her and copied her, having no idea what a sakura angel was. Laying underneath the large tree they looked up to the light seeping through, some petals still falling from Natsu's punch. "You're weird."

Lucy realized how out of character this was for her, a deep blush seeping through her cheeks. It wasn't often she just got to lay beneath the trees and laugh until her stomach hurt, she was always busy with work or school. She smiled to herself. "Thanks."

"There you two are!" Erza called. Natsu and Lucy sat up to see her and Gray quickly walking over to them. "We were worried something had happened to you."

Gray's shirt was missing. "Took forever to find you in this huge place."

Natsu stood up, brushing off the sakura petals from his body. "Gonna take forever to find your shirt too, stripper."

Erza stared Gray down, daring him to make a retaliation. He crossed his arms over his bare chest. "The customers waiting."

"Gray's right. We had told him to go ahead and wait for us on the ship while we tracked you guys down. We should hurry, it's rude to make him wait any longer." Gray and Erza turned to exit the garden, Natsu extending a hand to Lucy to help her stand up. She took it, brushing the petals off as they caught up with their teammates, chatting on the way down to the ship.

She hadn't thought about it, which is why she was so surprised. In front of her was a classic wind sailing ship, not necessarily large, but definitely not small. Lucy watched with awe as the crew ran around the ship getting ready to set sail, climbing ropes and raising sails.

Natsu was turning green. "Please tell me we're not getting on."

"You're being paid to be on it, does that help?" Erza tried to give a reassuring smile.

"Just get _on _already!" Gray shoved Natsu up the ramp and onto the boat, smiling back at Erza and Lucy below. "Togeroon awaits."

They nodded, following Gray up the ramp and onto the ship. They placed their bags in the bunker down below, Lucy being informed they would only be sleeping there for one night, which made her feel better. The idea of sleeping among thirty sailors made her uneasy. But then again she doubted anyone would try anything with Erza around. Lucy had been hearing about her famous nickname Titania, convinced the rumors were probably true.

They had been at sea for hours now, the sun well below the horizon. Dinner on the ship had been rowdy but fun, drinks spilling and food being devoured at alarming rates. It reminded her of the guild. Natsu had barely choked down a few pieces of bread before he threw them up again, immediately excusing himself to go try and sleep the sickness off in the bunker. It wasn't long before the crew cleaned up after that and went to bed themselves. Lucy guessed being a sailor probably took a lot out of you. She, Gray, and Erza had followed, Gray and Erza falling asleep as well. Lucy however was restless and decided to go up on deck, leaning on the railing to look at the stars reflecting on the water. Her time alone was interrupted as a strange groaning came from the stairwell. Lucy's eyes tried to focus on the shadow, unable to make out a clear form.

"Hello?"

_Hngggggg..._

"Is something wrong?" She tried to put on a brave face.

_HNGggg..._

"You'll have to step out into the light, or else I can't help you."

_HNGGGGG..._

The figure bolted out from the stairwell and towards her, Lucy flinching before a familiar pink haired mage was curled over the railing next to her. She laughed.

" 'snot funny..."

"It's pretty funny."

He glanced sideways at her, still holding onto the railing for dear life. "Couldn't sleep?"

"I've never been on a ship before, and the stars are so pretty reflecting against the water. You can't see them this well in my city." She smiled, looking out onto the ocean.

"Ships are overrated." Natsu's eyes drooped, a drop of sweat running down his face.

"Doesn't this world have medicine for travel sickness? Or a magic?" Lucy strummed the wood with her fingers.

"It's called troia, I grew immune. And a minute of fresh air will help." The ship gave an extra rock, Natsu swaying with it and folding over the railing again, about to puke any moment. "Maybe." They remained there in silence for a bit, Lucy not trying to converse with Natsu for fear he would throw up mid conversation, but he was the one to break the silence. "Told you."

"Huh?"

Natsu pointed to her hair. "Told you they glow."

Lucy picked up a strand of hair, inspecting it closely. "I don't know-"

He took a deep breath, focusing hard on keeping his composure while standing up straight as he faced her. His eyes furrowed in concentration as he reached towards her hair and accidentally brushed her face, pulling out a small sakura petal between his two fingers. Lucy hoped the nightfall was covering her blush. Natsu took one of her hands, placing the petal in the center of her palm. As promised, the small petal was emitting a light blue glow. What felt like a special moment to Lucy was ruined as a gust of wind hit the boat, a wave of water accompanying it sending the boat into a deep sway. Natsu's sickness returned as he heaved over the side. The petal was blown away from her palm, the wind carrying it off into the sky.

"Come on, Dragon Slayer." She took one of his arms and slung it around his shoulders, letting him lean on her as she propped him up. "I think that's enough fresh air for now." Slowly they limped back down below deck, Lucy helping Natsu fall safely into his hammock. He fell asleep as soon as he laid down, half his body hanging off of the cloth. Lucy lifted these back onto the hammock to ensure he wouldn't fall off in the middle of the night, smiling to herself. Yawning, she returned to her own hammock one over underneath Erza, tiptoeing as to not wake anyone up. Laying down and pulling the provided blanket over her, Lucy closed her eyes contently and let the boat rock her to a deep, peaceful sleep.

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**Ahhh tons of NaLu! This is for those who like a little more cheesiness I guess. I know I didn't really talk about the mission this chapter, but I promise everything shall be explained next time! Please review!**


	9. Chakras

**So this chapter is short because it's finals week and I have a million things going on! Haha also because this was originally going to be one very large chapter, but I decided that it'd be best just to cut it in half. Thanks for reading! **

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Lucy had never been to the rainforest before, but after having to trek through the thick jungle on Togeroon, she decided to cross it off her list of "must see" places. It was _hot_. Maybe, what, 105 degrees with 100% humidity? She had no exact way of telling, but that's definitely what it felt like, even when she had changed into a bikini top and shorts was only the five of them now, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Natsu, and the customer. Erza had changed as well, also hiking in a bikini top and shorts, while Natsu and Gray had simply removed their shirts, Natsu tying his scarf around his head. They traveled deeper into the island where the village was settled, walking in single file along a small pathway that was barely recognizable. It didn't help that plants seemed to jab into it, scratching Lucy's skin and causing it to itch.

The rest of the sailing had gone smoothly, Natsu and Lucy being caught up on the mission over breakfast where they had met the customer. He was a small, thin, elderly man named Ketut who loved to smile and show off his missing teeth. His white dreaded hair contrasted his dark skin, the long pieces held back with a woven straw band. On his shoulders rest a colorful shall, intricate designs spreading across that matched well with the skirt that reached his knees. Around his neck hung a wooden carved flute, Lucy dying to know what it sounded like. Ketut had a slight accent, but happily explained to her and Natsu that he had been traveling for over a decade to track down a book, which had been taken from his people long ago by a jealous spirit. The book was sacred to his people, laying the foundations for their culture in the ancient language of their ancestors. After successfully obtaining it once again he had traveled with the divine container that held the book across Earthland and back to Hargeon, where he wanted to hire protectors as he made the final stretch back home across the ocean in case he encountered pirates. Ketut was not allowed to open the container until after a special ceremony in his village was performed, where they were all invited to watch and join the festivities afterwards for the night. They agreed to stay, thankful for the invitation.

Of course they just had to make it through the jungle first, Lucy cursing under her breath about the bugs would eat her alive before she was able to get there.

"Jungles are stupid and bugs are stupid and plants are stupid and sweat is stupid and-" Lucy swatted the mosquito on her arm. "AND BUGS ARE STUPID!"

"You already said bugs are stupid." Natsu looked over his shoulder back at her, sending her a joking smile.

She was too cranky to put up with it. "AND NATSU IS STUPID..." She swatted another mosquito.

"That's what i've been _saying_!" Gray groaned from behind her.

"YOU'RE STUPID TOO GRAY." She slapped the mosquito on her leg. "Am I the only one they go for?! You're telling me none of you are being bitten _at all_?! And how does he walk so fast without shoes?!" Lucy could hear Ketut laugh from the front.

"Maybe we should take a break for a moment Ketut." Ah good 'ole Erza. Lucy knew she could always count on her.

"We will take break up at waterfall! Little further!" The group emitted a groan. "Ancestors move faster than you!" Ketut gave a small hop, quickening the pace.

"If he keeps this up i'm going to personally escort him to them..." Lucy muttered breathing harder now. Natsu and Gray laughed, obviously both hearing her.

Ketut on the other hand already stood at the top of the hill, hands on his hips smiling down at them. "Just over hill now! Come come!"

Gray placed his hands on Lucy's back and began to help push her up the incline. "Come on, princess! You're almost there!"

Feeling guilty for being pushed along, Lucy forced her legs to speed up the last stretch to the top of the hill, finally reaching where Natsu, Ketut, and Erza stood waiting. She doubled over and placed her hands on her knees, panting from exhaustion. She was used to hills in San Francisco but this was a whole new level.

"Do they have places like this on Earth, Lucy?" Erza asked, causing Lucy to take a moment to actually look out upon the area they had worked so hard to reach.

Directly in front of them was a tropical paradise. Eyeline of them stood a fifty foot waterfall that cascaded into a large swimming hole that connected to six other pools of water, each one flowing into the next, until dropped off another ledge down to a river below. The village could also be seen from here, the people bustling around living daily lives. Turning back to the waterfall, Lucy saw how the area flourished with tropical birds and colorful flowers. They continued forward, Natsu and Gray running ahead to climb the cliffside in order to reach the top of the waterfall.

They reached the edge of the water, finding a clear cut from land to liquid, Lucy unable to see the bottom of the pool. She was disappointed it didn't gradually get deeper and deeper. Erza went ahead and removed her hiking shorts to reveal the matching bikini bottom underneath, plopping into the second pool of water.

Ketut put a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Seven chakra, seven pool." Starting with the one beneath the waterfall he began to point to each one individually as he explained. "Root Chakra for foundation, Sacral for connection, Solar Plexus for confidence, Heart for love, Throat for communication, Third Eye for focus, and finally.."

"CANNON BALLLLLL!" Gray and Natsu shouted together as they jumped from the top of the waterfall and into the pool of water below them, creating an enormous splash. Lucy understood why Erza had chosen the second pool now.

"Crown Chakra for spiritual connection. You visit right pool, you open blocked chakra." And with that, Ketut left her to her thoughts to go swim around in the seventh pool of crown chakra, Lucy wishing she felt that confident in her chakras to know which one to worry about. Normally she would blow all of this information off as a hoax, but being in paradise in Fiore left her pretty open minded. Deciding that control over her life sounded like a good enough option, Lucy walked over to the third pool and looked into it's depths when a shine from the fourth pool caught her eye and she decided to check it out. Leaning as far as she could over the water without falling in, Lucy stretched her neck to try to see out further into the middle.

"Lucyy! Did you see that?! That was awesome!" Natsu called out, raising one fist into the air as he walked over to her.

"You jumping from a rock? Ooh so impressive." She backed down from her tiptoes and turned her head towards him, giving a small smile as she rolled her eyes.

"Not the jump, the wave!" He scanned over the pool of water to where she had been focusing on. "Whatchya lookin at?"

"I thought I saw something in the middle, but it could just be a trick of the light." She pouted.

"Well," His mischievous smile was back, those large canines revealing themselves. Natsu quickly lashed his arms out and scooped Lucy up bridal style, her eyes going wide. "Maybe you should..."

"What are you-" She realized a moment too late.

"Get a better look!" With a powerful swing of his arms, Natsu launched her into the air over the pool, Lucy's face stricken with horror as she submerged.

The panic struck once she was underwater. It hadn't helped that she had forgotten to hold her breath either. Kicking her legs sporadically, Lucy's hands shot up to cover her mouth to try and retain what air she had kept with her. _Kick harder_! The problem was, she wasn't heading up, but simply kicking as she sunk further down. She knew her best chance of returning to the surface was to use her hands as well, but Lucy wasn't confident that she would mysteriously know how this time. It had never worked before, and the fact she didn't know how to swim wasn't about to change now in her time of need. The warm, tropical water had started to grow colder as she descended, her kicks slowing to a stop as her air became her main concern. Her lungs burned, begging for the relief of air. Involuntarily she gasped, water rushing inside her. Lucy's mind flashed back to the forest fire, and the time she had once drowned before. However instead of her last sight being the stars, this time it was the blurry face of a distraught dragon slayer.


	10. Into The Night

**This is me procrastinating from finals. Haha in my opinion it's worth it. Thank you to everyone reviewing! It makes me quite happy and you're all so nice! Anyways, regular stuff. I don't own Fairy Tail and thanks for reading!**

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Warm lips, a loud beating in her chest. Growing up she had often been told she would feel these things when she met "that special someone", but she imagined it would feel different. Not so... painful. But there was something else she was feeling, something deeper down...

_Cough! Cough!_

Just kidding. Lucy's eyes squinted open, the images of Erza, Gray, Natsu, and Ketut standing over her coming into focus.

Erza crouched closer. "You've coughed up a lot of water. I wouldn't recommend moving for a moment." She turned to Natsu. "As for you! What were you doing!?" She hit Natsu hard over the head.

"Me!?" He jumped up and directed the conversation back at Lucy. His scarf had been switched back from his head to his waist and he was now gritting his teeth in anger. "What happened to you!? Why didn't you come up for air when I threw you in!?"

Her head was throbbing and she felt her throat could currently challenge the Sahara Desert. Lucy was in no mood for people to be yelling at her. "Simple. I can't swim."

Natsu began to pace back and forth, his temper rising. "Why didn't you tell me?! Or any of us?! That's something you tell people before you get on a ship with them or travel with them!" His hands had ignited in anger.

Still laying on the ground, Lucy closed her eyes and rested one of her arms against her forehead. What she really wanted to do was walk away from the noise, but she was too exhausted to currently do so. Instead, she focused on deep breathing. "Oh yes, keep yelling at me. It will definitely help."

He stopped pacing to snap his head towards her. "_Excuse me?_"

Lucy moved her arm away to sit up, her angry sarcasm becoming more prevalent. "Yes because it's _my_ fault you threw me into the water."

Natsu growled, the flames in his hands greatly expanding for a moment before distinguished. Stomping over to his backpack, he shoved it on roughly. "Come on, Ketut. We're going ahead to the village." Ketut, who had been keeping a pleasant expression the whole time placed the sacred book's container's straps on and followed Natsu along the path that continued to the village, flashing a smile right before disappearing into the jungle.

Lucy sighed and stood up, her headache tripling in pain. She struggled not to wince or show any discomfort, tired of people pitying her. "Well, we should head down to the village as well."

Erza knitted her eyebrows together in concern. "I think you should take it easy."

She waved off Erza's remark. "I'm fine, let's just-" Gray rushed to catch her as the pressure gave out from under her leg when she tried to step forward. She struggled to find her breath for a moment in his arms.

"Fine my ass." Gray turned and scooped her onto his back, Lucy automatically linking her arms around his neck, the will to protest gone. "Erza, would you mind carrying our bags?"

"Sure." She nodded, placing her own on her back and Lucy's in her left hand. The began down the jungle path to the village as well, Lucy sneaking one glance back to the seven chakra pools. Lucy didn't feel as if her chakra to love had been magically opened. If anything, it was the opposite and now she was just in a bitter mood.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Lucy mumbled into Gray's back, her thoughts openly surfacing. "Why is he being an asshole?"

"Natsu isn't purposefully being rude, he was just dealing with the shock he almost killed you." Erza explained.

"Doesn't mean he has to be a jerk about it..."

Gray smiled. "People are different when they're scared. Cut him a little slack. You should be happy it was him doing the CPR and not Erza. She probably would have broken the bones in your chest."

Lucy's face burned. CPR? Natsu... kissed her?! She had always imagined her first kiss would be slightly more romantic, maybe after a nice date at the movies or something. Not a life or death scenario. And with the boy being furious at her right afterwards. Should she really feel guilty? He was the one who had thrown her into the water! So what if she didn't tell them she couldn't swim? Everyone has their secrets. "Never thought i'd see the day where Gray Fullbuster was defending Natsu Dragneel." She joked.

"I-! Nevermind!" Here we are," Gray announced. "The village of Togeroon."

Lucy peeked over Gray's shoulder to see the busy villagers hustling about the village. Their huts were built of sturdy wood and straw, placed on poles lifting them a few feet off the ground, Lucy assuming it probably floods during the rainy months then. Raised pathways connected the huts all around, each having it's own overhang. The village itself was surprisingly large, and seemed to have been built in a circular formation, all huts facing inward to the middle of a large open space where villagers were setting up for tonight's ceremony. It easily looked as if several hundred people could dance there without being crowded. Slightly to the side Lucy could see a community garden, people happily picking crops.

Ketut scuttled forward to greet them at the edge of the village, accompanied by a woman slightly taller than him who was crossing her arms, an unhappy look on her face. She, like most of the older women in the tribe had short light brown hair and had a long sleeveless colorful dress that revealed her bare feet. "Welcome to village. Pulka show Lushee and Erza hut for night. Gray follow Ketut."

Gray shook his head. "I think I should drop Lucy off."

Lucy protested. "I'm fine, you can put me down."

Pulka tapped her foot, Gray feeling pressured, lowered her down and made sure she was stable before waving them goodbye and following Ketut away.

"You have husbands?" Pulka raised an eyebrow.

Erza and Lucy looked to each other before back at the woman. Erza shook her head. "No."

Pulka sighed, expecting the answer. "No worry. Pulka find you husbands tonight."

Lucy's eyes widened. "I don't really think that's-"

"You follow Pulka now." She turned and began walking, obviously not listening to Lucy.

Taking her backpack back from Erza, they followed the stubborn woman to a medium size hut, a group of women slightly younger than Pulka but older than her and Erza sat giggling around on bamboo mats. Even though they were immersed in conversation and laughing, their hands worked absentmindedly at stringing rows of flowers together in a quick fashion. As Lucy and Erza walked in, the women immediately set down their flowers and started inspecting them, measuring their bodies and taking notes on their hair and features. Pulka shouted directions to them in a foreign language, and the ladies immediately went to work. Before Lucy realized what was happening, the woman had stripped her clothes and pushed her into a tub of water smelling heavily of herbs and flowers.

"What are they doing?!" Lucy looked to Pulka for an explanation as one woman scrubbed her leg and another washed her hair.

"Make you suitable for husband." She responded dully, as if the question was expected.

Erza laughed as women scrubbed her body as well in a different tub. "Let's go along with it. I think it's fun."

And so Lucy played along for the rest of the day, being prepped and polished as women lathered their skin in oils, styled their hair, applied ceremonial makeup to their faces, and dressed them in the villages traditional clothing for younger unmarried women. Lucy's hair had been waterfall braided on both sides and met in the back, adorned with white flowers. The women had also painted on some eye makeup, which faded from white to gold on her eyelids and continued on to her hairline on the sides of her face. Her clothes were white as well, a white sleeveless heart neckline shirt hugged her chest and showed off her entire midriff, while she wore a matching long white skirt with a large leg slit up each side exposed her legs. Like the rest of the village, she was barefoot.

Erza's hair had been braided into a bun, and her outfit was identical to Lucy's except for the fact it was a light blue. The sun was down now and the village was now lit by torches and candles, Lucy and Erza were now following Pulka down to the ceremony.

"Stop fussing with it." Erza hissed at Lucy who had been adjusting her top once again.

"This is tight for even me though. I feel like my boobs are gonna fall out!"

Pulka shushed them from over her shoulder as they walked down to the large area where everyone had begun to gather. Lucy saw a few other girls dressed like her and Erza, while most of the village had dressed normally and simply washed up. They sat down next to Pulka in a large circle around a central bonfire, everyone whispering in excitement. She could see Gray and Natsu on the other side bickering at each other, both shirtless and wearing black shorts that looked exactly like Natsu's regular ones surprisingly. Their torsos had been painted with black designs and patterns. Many other boys were like this as well, Lucy assuming this was the counterpart to their own outfits. Ketut was the only one standing inside the circle now, the upper half of his face painted with red. He wore a grass crown and long grass skirt, and was humming with his eyes closed, a large staff held by both hands in front of him as he was obviously deep in concentration.

Without warning Ketut threw a handful of powder into the fire, causing the flames to grow and turn blue, his eyes snapping open as powerful drums began to play. He was chanting to the sky as he shook his staff to the beat of the drums, while strong men in masks weaved through the crowd and bringing forth the relic container. A dance proceeded, consisting of strong steps and chanted words that Lucy couldn't the drums slowed, Ketut threw another powder into the fire, turning it white. Silence overtook the crowd as Ketut spoke the final words and opened the relic box. Slowly he took the book in one hand and raised it to the crowd as they cheered.

Lucy gasped and slapped her hand to her mouth. Her eyes must be playing tricks on her. Erza looked at her to see what had startled her, Lucy looking between her and the book. "The book is from my world. I've read it!" She whispered to the redhead.

There in Ketut's hand was none other than the book The Great Gatsby in it's classic blue binding, the light of the white flames dancing over the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg. The book was extremely worn down and falling apart, but there was no mistaking that iconic cover. Ketut and the masked men exited the circle with smiles on their faces, as the music picked up again and the fire color returned to majority of the crowd seemed to be waiting for something, and Lucy watched as women dressed similarly to her rushed into the circle to dance, spinning and using a silk cloth to accentuate their movements. Lucy saw that men would approach the best dancers, taking one end of the cloth and dancing from there. If the woman accepted, she would spin herself so it would wrap around her and into him.

"Dance for husbands." Pulka shared, staring down Lucy and Erza. "Your turn now!" She thrust silk cloths that had matched their outfits at them, knowing this was the plan all along.

"Pulka we don't even know-!" Lucy protested. However Erza wasn't listening and rushed into the circle, happy to begin twirling and spinning to the beat of the drums. The fire reflected against her scarlet hair and skin beautifully, Lucy unable to tear her eyes away until Pulka hit her against the back of the head. "Would you cut it-!"

"I believe in your culture the men ask, may I have this dance?" Lucy looked up to a handsome shirtless man obviously from the village. His tan muscular chest was covered in black patterns, claw marks obviously indicated. With short black hair and a gleaming smile, Lucy blinked in surprise at how he could pass for a Disney prince. His hand was extended down to where Lucy was sitting, and she was surprised to hear no hint of accent in his voice.

Lucy instinctively placed her hand in his. "I-I don't know your dance.." Her eyes darted over to where Natsu had been sitting, finding he was no longer there. Quickly scanning the crowd she saw a girl talking to him at a nearby table as he scarfed food down. Lucy looked back up to the broad young man. _If it's just one dance I guess. _

He helped her to her feet. "That's alright, I'll show you!" He laughed and led her into the circle, first showing her how she would dance on her own with the cloth, and then taking one end and demonstrating how they would dance together. The dance obviously was meant to keep the couple weaving out and then back into each other, and it felt very intimate to her. Lucy picked up quickly, finding herself laughing and becoming dizzy from either excitement or spinning. The mans name was Virote, apparently meaning power. Lucy could see why with muscles that rivaled Laxus. He was sweet, and as they danced Lucy felt welcome. After what seemed like hours of dancing, he suggested that they eat, Lucy and him grabbing some food from a self serve table and sitting next to Gray, Pulka, Natsu, and the girl who had been flirting with him.

Gray bit excitedly into a large slice of meat. "Cool ceremony." He regarded towards Virote through a mouth full of food.

Virote responded with enthusiasm, his eyes lighting up. "It's wonderful to have the sacred book back!"

"Many are saying that husbands and wives that find each other tonight shall have a stronger bond than ever." It was the girl speaking, although she was staring directly at Natsu and fluttering her eyelashes. Lucy couldn't help but be jealous of her perfect tan skin and long chocolate hair. She was wearing the (what Lucy assumed) single woman outfit as well, except in light pink.

"Yes." Virote nodded, turning to Lucy and giving her a smile. "May that rumor hold true."

A chill went down Lucy's spine. Was Virote trying to court her? Of course he wasn't being just nice she groaned to herself. She swallowed her fruit and tried to change the subject quickly. "So... How long did you say your tribe had that book?"

"As long as anyone can remember. So maybe, hundreds, thousands of years?"

Lucy nodded skeptically. It wasn't right to tell them that this was a lie and that the book was from Earth. It would just make them angry and possibly tear their culture and beliefs apart. However she did feel as if they were missing out on a pretty good story as it sat right under their noses.

Gray laughed through another full mouth of food. "Look at Erza go!"

The group turned their heads to see Erza still dancing near the bonfire, spinning a man madly with a calm look on her face. The man looked like he was going to be sick, Lucy laughing but feeling bad for him. "She's a dancing demon!"

Pulka scoffed. "Never find husband that way. Lucy find much better husband." Lucy blushed turning back to her plate, she could feel Virote's gaze on her face.

The girl next to Natsu linked one of her arms around his, using the other to trace on his arms. "You know, Natsu, they say i'm the best dancer in the village."

He seemed unphased as he continued to dig into the food, his eyes not leaving his plate. "Good for you, Kosum."

Virote laughed before drinking some juice. "You're good, but Lucy's better!"

Kosum, who had completely ignoring Lucy before, now glared her down. "An outsider? Better? Your jokes need work, Virote."

"I am serious! If you are really so great, you and Natsu must outdance Lucy and I." He closed his fist and pounded it hard against his chest. Lucy wished she could turn invisible to the girl once again and avoid her scrutinizing glare.

Kosum gritted her teeth angrily, standing up and pulling Natsu away from his plate. "But i'm-!" He tried to protest with no luck.

Virote had stood as well and looked at Lucy, expecting her to stand up from her seat and rush to the challenge. She waved her hands slightly to in an attempt to dissuade him. "I think you're really overestimating my abilities here."

"Nonsense!" He took her by her wrist and began to drag her out to the bonfire dancing area. "Your modesty a beautiful trait!" He smiled and held one end of the cloth used to dance, offering Lucy the other. Sneaking a glance over to Kosum and Natsu, they stood ready to begin the competition. A spark of rage lit inside Lucy. First Natsu was rude enough to throw her into water, then he got angry at her about it, and now he's trying to publicly embarrass her? She grabbed the other end of the cloth with determination to win. Those who had been dancing in the circle cleared away, obviously aware of the competition. A new beat began on the drums, much harsher and faster than Lucy had previously danced to. The people of the village kept in time with the beat by clapping, and Lucy found it even harder now to remember all the proper movements. Even so, there was no way she was going to let Natsu and that flirtatious woman beat her.

Half an hour later of exhausting dancing, the drums had stopped, and Lucy was panting in Virote's arms. Her body felt as if it had been bent and turned too many times, her feet throbbing from slamming them so hard on the ground. She hadn't had time to look over at Natsu and Kosum during the competition, but both of them wore stern expressions on their faces. They looked as tired as Lucy and Virote were. Looking back before them, Pulka stroked her face in deep thought, contemplating the winner.

Pulka nodded. "Lucy."

A watching crowd erupted in cheers and applause, throwing flowers into the air. However a different type of scream came from Kosum as she wrenched herself out of Natsu's arms and turned around to jab him in the chest. "This is your fault! You brought me down!" Throwing her hands up into the air the beautiful woman stormed off, cursing under her breath. Natsu rolled his eyes and let out a deep breath, his eyes meeting Lucy's. She quickly looked away.

The regular beat began again for others to continue dancing and celebrating, Virote releasing his grasp on Lucy and clapping his hands together. "I shall retrieve the winners drinks!" He exclaimed before heading off.

Lucy too exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She looked down to the white cloth in her hand, obviously feeling awkward and embarrassed even though she won. It wasn't long before a voice snapped her back into reality.

Natsu's hands were behind his head, his eyes looking sideways to avoid hers. "Congrats." His tone sounded half-hearted.

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Thanks." The tension in the air was thick, Lucy unsure how to clear it. She had no idea if he was still angry at her, or where she would begin with the conversation. Trying to be brave, she cleared her throat. "So why did Kosum say you brought her down?"

He rolled his eyes again, finally meeting hers. "Apparently I don't spin people very well."

Unwillingly an underlying smile began to work on Lucy's face, despite her best efforts to try and stay serious. "How were you spinning her?"

"Normally!" He threw his hands up into the air for a moment before pushing them into his pockets. "...I think."

A laugh escaped Lucy, and before she realized what she was doing she placed one end of her cloth into his hand and took hold of the others. "Show me."

He eyed her skeptically at first, searching her face for signs of sarcasm. Then slowly, he began to twirl her about a few times before Lucy stopped him. "I hate to say this, but she was right." He opened his mouth to protest and leave, but Lucy quickly continued on, using her free hand to adjust his body. "Firstly, your arms are too straight. They need to relax." She bent his arm at the elbow, creating more of a hook shape. "Next, you're flat footed, so you should open up your stance." Turning square to him, she used her free hand to push one of his hips slightly back. "And finally," Lucy began to spin herself in the cloth so it wrapped around her and brought her against Natsu's body, his arm around her waist holding her to him. "The entire point is to be close. You were holding me too far away." Their eyes locked for a moment before Lucy had realized how close together they were. They both blushed.

"Lucy! Where have you gone?" Virote's voice rang out from the crowd.

"Quick! Unspin me!" Lucy panicked, whispering to Natsu.

He did so, his foul mood returning again. "Right. Wouldn't want you to miss drinks with your new boyfriend." However, she didn't hear him and quickly tugged on his hand to escort them out of there. She was walking away from the noise, not really aiming for anywhere, but landing on a small path through the village. They ended up in the village's garden, Natsu breaking his hand away as Lucy ducked into a small area between two large bushes that would hide them. "What are you doing?"

"What are _you _doing! Hurry sit down before Virote maybe sees you!" She fluttered her hands in desperation.

Natsu raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "Are you trying to hide from Virote?"

Her fluttering increased in speed. "Yes! Now would you sit down already!?"

He laughed before settling down next to her. "You're weird." Not having a witty reply, Lucy stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm pretty sure no one else is even coming this far away from the celebration. And why are you avoiding him?" A smile had settled on his face, Lucy unsure of whether it was satisfaction or amusement.

"Pulka has been bothering me all night about finding a husband and I think Virote was agreeing with her on that and long story short I think I don't want anyone trying to propose to me tonight." Her tone slowed as she looked at Natsu. "Why are you mad at me?"

"Mad? I was frustrated!" He tensed his hands quickly before relaxing them again. "They're two different things."

Lucy brought her knees up to her chest, not really knowing how to respond. She had never really fought with anyone, even in the rotation of foster parents. She would always just run away, and she had never made enough friends to begin fights with any of them. "...sorry."

He sighed, running one of his hands through his hair, not looking at her. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. It's just, I almost killed you, Lucy. When I brought you back up, and you weren't breathing- I don't even know what I would have done if you died."

She took his hand and squeezed it gently. "You're right, I should have told you."

He squeezed her hand back. "I guess I just assumed when you told me you jumped into a river. Most people won't do that if they can't swim you know." He smiled jokingly.

"It was a split decision! I wasn't going to just stand there and be crushed by a burning tree!"

His hearty laugh cleared the air of any final tension. "I can deal. Anything else I should know though?"

Lucy racked her brain for information, squeezing her eyebrows together. "Back home i'm actually considered an awful dancer." Taken by surprise, Natsu burst into laughter, infecting Lucy as they sat there in the grass. "So what about Kosum?" She eyed him carefully.

"The girl? What about her?" He raised an eyebrow quizzically.

Lucy tucked a piece of hair behind her ear with her free hand. "She seemed to be into you."

Natsu looked confused. "What gave you that idea?"

Lucy laughed, shaking her head. "You're clueless."

They had begun to chat normally again, talking over all the interesting aspects of the village, the outfits, the people, the dances, even joking about Virote and Kosum maybe falling for each other one day. Lucy wasn't sure how long they had spent sitting there in the grass. However that halted when Natsu changed the subject mid sentence. "Did you feel that?"

Lucy waited. "Feel what?"

He froze, his eyes focusing on the sky as Lucy assumed his dragon senses were picking up things too subtle for her. "Lucy, I think it's starting to-"

With no further warning a downpour began, soaking them both within seconds. "Rain?!" She finished his sentence with a large tone of sarcasm.

"Come on!" He stood, laughing and helped her up, the rain now so thick they could only see about ten feet in front of them. They walked a few feet before the mud gave out beneath one of Lucy's feet and she fell face first into Natsu's chest when he tried to catch her. She pulled herself away and he instantly began laughing heavily again, wiping her cheek and showing that some of his chest paint came off on her face. She rubbed some of it away, laughing as well. Thanks to Natsu's dragon senses it only took them a few more minutes to return to one of the covered pathways of the village. Once beneath it they saw their makeup and paint had been washed away, both of them laughing at the other in their soaked states. Lucy shivered from the cold, Natsu purposefully rising his temperature as he grabbed her hand and they went to find the others.

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**As you can tell i'm quite a fan of subtle fluff. Anyways, enjoy it for now because next chapter won't be so happy!**

**muahahaha**

**haha**

**ha.**


	11. Dead Men Tell No Tales

**Woo i'm officially on summer vacation! Hopefully this means i'll update more but since i've been so busy the past few days i'm beginning to wonder if that will actually be the case. Wub wub wub welp here's the next chapter! Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!**

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_Achoo! _

Lucy shifted her weight from one hip to the other, scrunching her nose. The rain from the night before had made her sick, and Lucy thought this was an appropriate reason not to immediately learn how to swordfight from Erza, but the scarlet mage argued otherwise. The midday sun didn't help either, especially with very little wind. This caused the ship to sail even slower than normal. But there they stood on the deck, swordfighting as sailors moved about.

Erza stood in a ready position, her sword held steady at the end of her arm facing Lucy. "Come at me again. Remember what I told you."

Lucy groaned, regaining the stance she had been taught, albeit half-heartedly. Shuffling her feet quickly she slashed at Erza who easily blocked it, returning a hit that caused the blade to fall from Lucy's grasp to the deck. She groaned, slumping her posture to emphasize her annoyance. "Why don't I just stick to my keys, Erza? They're so much simpler."

"You might not always have them though, and a sword is one of the most reliable weapons." Erza knit her eyebrows in concentration and moving back to a comfortable standing position. "If you expect to improve you're going to have to follow my instructions. Now, what did I tell you about slashing?"

"I know, I know! It's too easily blocked so I should be jabbing instead." Lucy bent down to retrieve the borrowed weapon, sneezing again once she stood up.

"Are you trying to have Erza go easy on you by playing sick?" Gray walked up to Lucy and Erza shirtless, his hands in his pockets. Lucy figured not having a shirt on was fine for once, since many of the crew members also walked around that way. "Cause if it works, be sure to tell me."

Lucy sniffed. "I'm not faking it! You guys saw how fast the rain appeared last night! I just didn't get out of it in time."

"I guess Erza and I are fine because the people could tell it was about to happen." Gray leaned against a nearby barrel. "You guys also missed an interpretation from the book that ended up being pretty cool."

Lucy slapped her forehead with her palm. "The book! I totally forgot to tell you guys!"

"Tell us..?"

Erza requipped the swords to return to her inventory, sensing the blonde's indication to want to stop practicing."Lucy has some kind of connection to their sacred book." She explained.

Gray blinked in surprise. "How..?"

Lucy walked over to Gray and sat on top of a barrel next to him, feeling informed from all her secret truthful knowledge."It's a book from my world! Popular to the point where you're forced to read it for school in a lot of places. It's about some love triangle plus a few other things, but hey, Togeroon chose a pretty cool book to worship. I think they were making it into a movie back home? Anyways, while the book has been out for a while, it definitely hasn't been around for centuries."

Gray shrugged. "So I guess you and flame-brain really didn't miss anything then."

Lucy looked around. "Speaking of Natsu, where is he?"

"Sleeping I assume. It's hard to tell if he's feeling sick from the rain as well or simply from his motion sickness." Erza replied.

"Lucky him. I can't seem to stay asleep on this ship with all the noise and movement." Lucy sighed. She gave a little hop off the barrel and sniffed. "I think i'm going to see if the cook has anything for a cold. I feel really congested."

Erza looked at her, eyes full of concern. "Would you like me to go with you?"

Lucy shook her hands at her teammate. "No, no, that's fine." An evil idea sparked in her mind. "Erza, I don't think Gray's sword balance is perfected yet. It would be terrible if that should ever be his downfall one day!"

Grief arose in Erza as her eyes darted to Gray. "She's right! Gray, as your teammate I shall make sure this never happens by training you immediately!" Requipping, the two swords that she and Lucy had been using earlier appeared back in her hands. She held out the handle of one earnestly to Gray. "Quickly! We have no time to lose!"

Lucy smiled to herself and turned to walk away from the two.

"What?! No!" The ice mage demurred, stepping back from Erza. "Lucy, come back! I'll get you back for this! Erza, I really think-"

But that was all Lucy heard as she continued to make her way through the deck and down a set of stairs to the kitchen door. She knocked gently, no response coming from the inside. She knocked again, slightly louder, still no reply. Deciding it would be rude to pound on the door which already seemed in poor condition, Lucy tried the handle to find that it was unlocked and let herself in, closing the door behind her. Instantly she was filled with the aroma of spices, smiling to herself of how it reminded her of her waitressing job back at home.

_No one will mind if I just look around for something labeled 'For sickness', right? _

The kitchen felt large to Lucy, cooking counters wrapping around the edges of the room as a large fireplace and cooking pot sat in the middle. Lucy had really hoped someone would be here to help her, but since she was on her own and determined to find something to cure her awful headache, she set to work of searching through each pantry and drawer. Of course, Lucy immediately found out that this task was easier said than done, with nothing being organized.

Lucy's mind began to think back to this morning and her departure from Togeroon. Ketut and Virote has escorted them out to the beach again, Virote still obviously trying to court her as they walked behind everyone else. Everyone was dressed normally once again, even Virote changing into a colorful pair of woven shorts. He had been working up the courage to say something, but Lucy never found out as she was saved by Ketut wanting to speak to her privately.

"Thank you for everything, Ketut." She gave him a small bow. "It means a lot that you let us participate in your celebration."

"Lushee is welcome back anytime. One day she will find way home and meet Ketut again." He gave a wide smile, his eyes squinting from happiness and sunlight.

Lucy sighed, shaking her head. "If you're saying i'm going to marry Virote i'm going to say you're sadly mistaken."

Ketut's face became serious once more, Lucy being surprised as he took her hand in his. "Lushee find way home if listen to heart. Chakra pool never lie. You see."

"Lucyy! It's time to go!" Natsu's voice snapped her out of Ketut's intense gaze.

"Coming!" She shouted back. Ketut released her hand as she looked back to the small old man and gave him a small smile. "Thank you, really."

Lucy has spent quite an amount of time searching through the kitchen now, since things were hidden in random pots and bowls, disorganized beyond belief. Noise had grown from up on the deck, and she assumed the sailors had begun drinking or something. She moaned as she closed the last cabinet, not finding what she was looking for. There was a chance that maybe something was in there that she had skipped over, but since nothing was labeled Lucy wasn't taking any chances.

The noise from the deck had grown louder now, yelps and wallops more apparent. Hopping off the chair she had been standing on to reach each cabinet, Lucy returned it to it's original position and walked to the door, opening it to pure chaos on the deck.

The deck was full of twice as many people now, most swordfighting while many men lay unconscious or _worse_ on the deck. Lucy walked up the rest of the stairs to the deck, dazed about the situation. Who would be attacking them out here? Surely it couldn't be-

_BOOM! _The ship suddenly lurched to the side, many people losing their balance. Lucy stumbled a bit before the ship balanced out again, her head snapping to the direction of the powerful force. Anchored onto them was a ship made of a darker mahogany, three sizes larger than their own. Of the three masts the middle stood tallest, a black flag flapping on top with a prominent white shark in the center.

"Pirates!?" Lucy thought aloud, a large hairy man being the first to notice her appearance on the deck. Grinning menacingly, he unlatched his sword from inside another man's chest, causing the body to fall when he raised it towards Lucy and began to make his way over. Their eyes meeting, Lucy grabbed her keys, surprise and fear evident on her face.

"Ice make: canon!" The large hairy man who had been approaching her only had moments to look to his right before he was blasted straight off the deck, taking two other men with him overboard.

Lucy's hand relaxed as the ice mage ran up to her, shirtless and panting. "Gray! What's going on?!"

He was doubled over, supporting himself as his hands were propped on his knees. "Lucy, where have you been?"

"I was in the kitchen like I told you and Erza before I left!" She pointed down the stairs just behind her. "Tell me what's going on!"

Straightening up, he smacked his palm to his forehead. "Of course! Well, as you can tell we're under attack by pirates, which is annoying. What's even more annoying is that they're pretty strong, too." His eyes swept the deck to the fighting going on around them, stopping on a burly man approaching them at full speed. "Lucy! Get back inside!"

"What?! I can fight!" She raised her keys and focused on the man quickly closing the gap between them. Gray brought his left hand back, open palmed, his ice making stance ready.

"This isn't up for debate! You don't have enough experience!" The man raised his club up high, preparing his swing. He was only ten feet away now. "GO!"

Each moment seemed to be passing in slow motion to Lucy. She had been too focused on Gray to see that the man had been aiming for her individually. Gray pushed her forcefully backwards down the set of stairs, taking her place instead. As he cast a spell Lucy hit the ground hard, a large ice wall sealing her into the kitchen as she watched the club connect with Gray's body and send him flying.

"GRAY!" Forcing herself up she ran to the ice wall, the man following after his prey so their fight no longer in her sight. She banged her fists hard against the ice, screaming. "Let me out! Gray! Erza! Natsu!" Each name fueling her to hit the wall harder and harder. Pausing, her rested her forehead against the ice in frustration. Ironically it helped the headache she had been trying to cure earlier. She should be up there fighting with the crew, not locked away like some princess. She knew the dangers of taking a mission, but now that they were here she wasn't being allowed to confront them and become stronger? Lucy felt robbed. And where had Erza and Natsu been? Erza could handle herself, but could Natsu really fight with his motion sickness? In her mind HE was the one who needed help, not her.

"I think I heard something from down there!"

Lucy was snapped out of her thoughts, immediately stepping back from the door. Should she fight or hide? Currently she had Gray's magic protecting her, but someone could probably break through it with a hard enough attack, or it could disappear if he was knocked unconscious. She decided to play it safe once again. If an attacker could directly break one of his walls, Lucy was probably no match for them.

"Let's check it out."

Lucy scanned the kitchen laid out before her. She was lucky that she had just searched through everything, or else she wouldn't have had enough time to climb into a tucked away barrel in the corner of the room. Barely having settling in, her heart dropped at the sound of ice shattering. She could identify three sets of feet crunching over the ice and into the room.

_Stay calm, slow your breathing. They don't know you're here._

"Now why would an ice wall be blocking off a room?" The man's voice sounded sharp and self assured.

A less intelligent comrade answered, his mind obviously distracted. "Maybe they don't want us eatin' their cookin'?"

The third voice answered. "You dumbass. Means something in here is valuable. Doesn't it, Bora?"

"Well, gentlemen." The sharp voice answered once again, Lucy guessing this man was Bora. His voice sounded close, but Lucy couldn't exactly tell. If she called out one of her spirits now she could probably take them by surprise. "Something, _or,_" A wave of pain rushed through Lucy, her voice crying out as she felt herself lifted from the barrel by her hair. "Some_ONE._"

She squinted her eyes open to see the other two men clapping towards Bora. The third one had green hair tied back into a low ponytail, Lucy connected his voice to his face when he spoke. "Very nice sir, excellent find."

The less intelligent one was rounder and bald, he was nodding vigorously. "Nice job, Bora. She is going to make Zhetir very happy."

Bora lowered Lucy to the ground, his firm grip still embedded in her hair. He swept back his own with the opposite. "I truly am destined for greatness."

Lucy grit her teeth and grabbed her keys, quickly summoning a spirit while she still had the chance. "Open: gate of the archer! Sagittarius!" Bora and his lackeys were temporarily blinded by the unexpected light, Lucy taking the chance to slip through Bora's grasp. She quickly stood up, placing herself slightly behind Sagittarius.

He saluted to her respectfully. "Yes, Lucy-sama? Moshi moshi."

Lucy was thankful of the three spirits she had gained from Spetto during his disaster of a trip to the Heartfilia estate. Virgo, Sagittarius, and Taurus made her feel less weak than simply having one key alone. "Shoot them please!"

"Right away! Moshi moshi!" Sagittarius raised his bow, drawing three arrows from his quiver.

Bora shouted at his men, angry he had been distracted. "Well, get her!"

Sagittarius let his arrows fly, Bora and the blonde dodging while the bald one was hit squarely in the shoulder. However instead of being punctured, the bald man's body seemed to be sucking in the arrow instead, swallowing it in. The blonde removed his hair tie, his hair now sticking up to make him look like it belonged to a porcupine. He plucked a few strands from his head and Lucy could see that now they were sharp needles instead of merely strands of hair. Throwing them at Lucy, she narrowly avoided them at her feet. Bora retaliated as well, purple flames emerging from his ring and wrapping around Sagittarius. The celestial spirit cried in pain.

"I'm sorry, Lucy! Moshi moshi!" The flames wrapped tighter around his body until Sagittarius seemed to pop, a glimmer replacing his body as the flames returned to Bora.

The bald man smiled foolishly to himself. "Lucy. What a pretty name."

"Well, Lucy." Her name felt like venom through Bora's lips. "This is Somb and Gratu, and I am Bora." He indicated to the porcupine man and then the bald one. "If you come along with us nicely you won't have to get hurt."

Lucy cursed under her breath, her hand on her keys. "What do pirates want with this ship anyways? It has no money."

The three of them laughed, Bora replying. "Silly girl, we're not pirates. We're slave traders, and we're here for a little. . . recruitment." He eyed the length of her body.

"Not if I can help it. Open: Gate of the-!" She brought up her keys, ready to continue fighting until searing pain hit the back of her hand, causing her to drop them. Pulling it close to her body, Somb's quills poked out of the back of it on top of her Fairy Tail symbol.

Somb laughed. "Now we just have to wait for the sleeping affect those will give you, and we can leave this dirty ship."

Bora snapped his fingers. "You two grab the girl." Lucy scrambled for her keys with her left hand, grabbing air to where she thought the keys were.

_What? Why can't I grab them?_

Lucy tried once more before before Bora's flames lifted her keys away from her before she had the chance to try again. The quills were affecting her depth perception she realized. Her eyes darted to the purple haired man before returning back to his lackeys. As they closed in, Lucy calculated when to actually attack, praying to herself that she could get out of the situation. Waiting until the right moment she jutted out a sideways kick towards where she figured one would be. Upon making contact, she realized her mistake as her leg was being absorbed into Gratu's body. It pulled her balance away from her, causing her to fall, her leg being sucked further in.

Somb growled. "No no, you can't absorb this one." He launched more quills at her, three more sticking into her left shoulder. Confusion began to take hold of Lucy as she failed to realize she had been given her leg back from Gratu's body. The two men swooped down on her, each taking an arm as she attempted to struggle while Bora led them up the stairs.

Reaching the deck once again, Bora held up his hand for them to pause as he looked around, the deck still featuring a few swordfights. Lucy looked for a sign of a familiar face.

_BOOM!_

A second cannon ball hit the ship causing it to lurch as before, Lucy only escaping a few feet before being grabbed again. Bora looked back at them. "Come on, one more of those and this ship is going down."

The purple haired man began briskly walking ahead, Gratu and Somb carrying Lucy as they followed. She struggled, but she could feel herself becoming weaker, knowing her consciousness was limited. Ahead she saw the large mahogany ship, most of it's crew members back on board getting ready to push away from the ship they were currently on. Although her vision began to blur, she could make out the railing and a wooden board that bridged the two ships, knowing it was over for her if she crossed.

A new spark ignited inside Lucy as she gave the last of her energy to struggle to break free, Somb and Gratu's grips digging into her arms. "Natsu! NATSU!"

_BOOM!_

The two threw her across the gap, not even bothering to try and make her cross the bridge. She struggled to stand and face back towards her own ship, but even with her obscured vision could tell it was crumbling in onto itself, now beginning to sink as they began to sail away.

"LUCY!"

Running over to the railing her eyes searched the wrecked ship, hope arising with the sound of Natsu's voice. She linked her arms into the railing of the deck as Somb tried to pry her away, Gratu and Bora obviously feeling victorious now that she was already on board as they walked away. Her ship was halfway under now, many people abandoning ship and holding onto floating pieces of debris. On the other side of the wreckage she could see Erza tending to an unconscious Gray.

"LUCY!"

Her ears finally pinpointed the voice as she look down to the side of the ship, Natsu unsuccessfully trying to climb up with no luck as he swam alongside it.

Slipping down once more called up to her, his onyx eyes full of intensity. "Lucy! You have to jump! I won't let you drown but you _have to jump_!" She looked down to Natsu swimming alongside faster now. If he wasn't yelling to her and had different colored hair, Lucy wouldn't have been able to tell it was him since her vision was now so blurry. She also was panting now just to stay awake, the quills still lodged in her hand and shoulder. Lucy knew she had no time to be scared or hesitate. Swerving her head towards Somb, she gave him a final kick for him to fall only far enough away from her for a few seconds as she climbed onto the rail. She balanced for a moment looking down at Natsu, one arm lifted up towards her, and his eyebrows knitted in reassurance. That was all she saw before the darkness finally swept over her.

If only she had fallen forward instead.

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**Is it wrong that sometimes I have the urge to maniacally laugh when writing these? uGH poor babies. And can you tell I saw The Great Gatsby movie a little bit ago? Haha I actually had that idea and THEN someone told me there was a movie and I just had to see it and it turned out to be wonderful. Anyways, please review! I want to know what you guys think! Thanks for readingg!**


	12. Bosco

**GAHHH. I'm sorry that this chapter is both shorter than normal and has taken so long! I'm having trouble with motivation right now, and i'm also extremely busy with planning a funeral, moving, and taking care of my mother who just had surgery. It makes it so I really only have time to write at like 10 p.m. at night, and by then i'm exhausted and have writers block! After this weekend i'll be moved though and the funeral shall be over so hopefully i'll get back into a regular routine of writing. Anyways, thanks for reading!**

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It was hard to believe she hadn't woken up sooner. Between the rocking of the ship, the awful smells, people's moans, and the shackles restraining her arms awkwardly behind her, she wasn't sure which was the worst. Those quills had definitely done their job. Sitting up, she let her memories return to her, going over the order of events in her mind. The kitchen that led to chaos on the deck, Gray being hit so hard he was sent flying and trying to protect her, the fight with Bora and the two men, and Natsu swimming aside the ship telling her to jump. A curse exhaled from under her breath. There were so many things she had messed up on! She should have jumped sooner, she should have fought harder, she should have stayed with Gray to fight!

Lucy adjusted her seating, leaning against the inside of the ship, hanging her head as grievous thoughts tried to consume her. Did this mean no one had come after her? No Erza and Gray? No Natsu? Her heart tightened in a panic.

_Oh my gosh, what am I saying?! _Lucy shook her head. _Something must have happened. They're probably looking for me right now! After all . . . Hope is all I have now. _She could feel the lightness of her belt from the absence of her keys.

Nodding to herself to stay positive, Lucy tried to make our her surroundings once again and the people next to her. Understanding she was in the lower part of a ship, whether it was the same one or different, she couldn't tell. It seemed to be divided into two sections, where Lucy could make out a set of bars ahead of her, some space, and then another set of bars since light slightly reflected off them. Behind the bars were probably more people in chains like herself. Looking to her left, a skinny pale man sat with his knees to his chest. His bones stuck sharply out of his skin, his black shaggy hair looked thin as it fell over his ears, and his eyes were deeply sunken as they fixated madly towards the ceiling.

Lucy shuddered, put off by the man's condition. His mind was obviously somewhere else now and there was no getting answers from him. The shackles scraped against the wall behind her as she turned to the right to survey the next person, her heart dropping at the sight. A small figure was curled up in a ball, trying to muffle it's sobs. Children too? She scooted closer, keeping her voice soft. "Are you alright?"

The child glanced up slightly to the sound of the voice, revealing a small blonde girl with tears rushing down her face. She couldn't be more than five, and wore a white dress with sleeves down to the elbows that tied at the waist and was adorned with pink flowers. It was now covered in dirt and ripped in several places, her bare toes peeking out from underneath it. Unlike herself, the small girl didn't have any shackles on her hands, only loosely on her feet.

Lucy inched closer once more, leveling her face more with the girl's. "I'm Lucy. What's your name?"

The small blonde continued to let her tears flow, but unfolded herself and sat up. "Touya."

"What a lovely face you have, Touya. It's a shame to cover it with tears." It felt difficult to be friendly and comforting inside the dark humid ship, especially with her body aching from the fight, but she gave it her best effort. "Where are you from?"

Touya crawled closer to her, a small smile forming on Lucy's lips despite the grim situation. "Gellowstown."

Lucy thought hard about the map of Fiore she had seen at her first day at the guild. If she had known she would have needed it this much she would have memorized it better. "That's west Fiore, right?"

Touya nodded. "Where are we going?"

Was it better to tell her the truth? Or make it seem more friendly? Lucy decided for a little bit of both. "A trip to our neighbor country Bosco. Hopefully it shouldn't take too long."

"Why do we have these on then?" Touya poked at the chains around her ankles.

"Uhm, well..." Lucy tried to think of a quick solution that wouldn't scare the young girl back into her heavy crying. "The air is different in Bosco, so without these we would just float away!"

Tears no longer flowing, Touya burrowed into Lucy's shirt and clung on tightly, not quite listening to her reasoning. "I want my mommy and daddy." Another pang of hurt shot through Lucy, knowing the pain of loneliness all too well from her own childhood.

They spoke a bit longer, Lucy finding it hard to explain to a five year old about how she was from a different planet. She found out Touya had lost her parents in the marketplace before a man grabbed her and took her away. She'd been on the boat for what Lucy interpreted as a week with a group of others, who originally had all been loud and motivated to escape, but when deprived of food for their noise they all began to lose spirit and quiet down. Eventually Touya fell asleep against her, Lucy leaning back against the side of the ship, thoughts wasn't enough light to tell what time it may be, and Touya hadn't noticed her when she boarded so she wasn't aware how long she had been there. She also had no idea where her keys now were, and whether they might be lost forever already. One thing was for certain, she had to get out of there, and fast. The longer she waited, the farther away home and Fairy Tail became.

After what felt like a hours of darkness, a door from the upper part of the ship flew open, light rushing into the damp hull. Gratu walked in the middle aisle separating the two cages, keys jingling in his left hand as a whip was grasped in his right. "All right you mutts, up and at 'em! After a few months of rounding you lot up we've reached Bosco!" He cackled, unlocking the doors.

Looking down to Touya, Lucy nudged her awake gently. "Touya, it's time to wake up." The little girl yawned and rubbed her eyes as other prisoners began to stand up and file out the door, the sound of chains rattling echoing through the room. Using the wall to stand up as well, Lucy kept her voice soft but serious towards the little girl. "Stay close to me, Touya. it'll be okay, I promise."

Eyes puffy from crying so much, Touya nodded, her fear slightly less prominent on her face. She placed her small hand in Lucy's restrained ones, following her out closely of the ship.

Gratu sneered at them as they passed. "Made a friend 'ave we?"

She kept her eyes forward. _Bite your tongue, Lucy. It's not worth being whipped over._

Stepping out onto the deck, Lucy blinked through the wave of light blinding her, walking aimlessly for a moment by not being given the luxury of having time to adjust as she was pushed into a long line of soon-to-be slaves. She had taken her time when exiting the ship, so her and Touya were near the back of the line. Now that she could see, there seemed to be about a hundred of them, ranging vastly in shapes, sizes, and age. And even though the sun was shining, the port felt dark and dangerous. All the buildings seemed to be dark colored, complemented by dark cobblestone streets and looming mountains just beyond the towns border. As the captives were pushed through the streets in single file, Lucy wasn't feeling very confident about the people either. Each man seemed to be either skinny and twitchy, or muscled with a murderous stare. Women were always accompanied by a slave which usually carried groceries or shopping bags, and didn't even notice what was going on around them.

_People being bought and sold as goods doesn't bother them? _Lucy thought to herself as she walked silently in line with the others. _These are people's families! What if it were their own?_

Somb cracked a whip to the ground, breaking her thoughts. "Oi! Keep it moving!"

Once they had walked all the way across the city, they approached a large seemingly run down prison, not seeming to have been in use for years. She hadn't done anything wrong! She shouldn't be in a prison or in chains, she should be headed back to Fairy Tail! As they filed inside the building, Lucy squeezed Touya's hand reassuringly.

The captives were divided once again when inside the prison. The lackeys had the job of splitting up everyone into fours and being pushed into cells while Bora stood around and watched. Lucy, Touya, and an older married couple were all pushed into a cell together. It was a small square room with only brick walls and a cold floor. Lucy sunk to the floor, leaning against the cold brick. The chains were heavy, so it exhausted her to carry them around, and her muscles felt still from being constricted to certain movements since her hands were tied. Touya copied her, leaning into Lucy's body. The couple receded back to the corner, the woman leaning her head on the man's shoulder as they both stared towards the ground. The man was bald, and the woman had a short pixie cut of black hair that complimented their matching dark skin.

Bora snickered and approached the cell that held them. "Not feeling so high and mighty without these, are you now?" He pulled Lucy's set of keys, grinning.

Lucy gritted her teeth. "Give those back and you'll see who's laughing then!"

He swung her keys tauntingly. "My dear, even if you did get these back, you'd be no match for all of my men. Now sit there like a good girl and wait your turn." Placing the keys back in his pocket he ran a hand through his hair and sauntered off.

His footsteps fading off through the hallway, Lucy turned to the old couple frantically. "What did he mean, 'wait our turn'?"

A scream rippled through the prison, her fear rising.

The old man looked up towards her, his wrinkled eyes full of sadness. "I'm not sure. . . To be branded I assume." He held a slight accent, Lucy guessing they were not from Fiore.

Touya tugged on Lucy's shirt. "What's branding?"

Her mouth hung open, unsure about how to respond to the small girl whose eyes were filled with innocence. "Something that is not meant for people,Touya. These men are evil, and should not be doing this." She wondered if Touya even knew what a slave was, really.

"What a lovely daughter you have." The woman gave a soft smile to Lucy. "She reminds me of our three back in Sin."

"Oh, uhm, she's not really-" Another scream rang throughout the prison, drowning out Lucy's words. Lucy tried to keep the mood light by ignoring the screams and continuing the conversation. "I'm Lucy, and this is Touya. What are your names?"

The woman gave a slight bow of her head. "I am Mareeli and this is my husband Jahviorn. We were taking a ferry to Desierto when we were captured. We were on board for months before now, being among the first of the captured on the ship."

Jahviorn nodded along in assurance. "What happened to you two?"

"Ship was raided at sea. Knocked out and dragged aboard." Lucy sighed, recalling the events in her mind. "But she's really not-"

As another set of footsteps trumped down the hallway of cells, Lucy quickly shut up. These creeps didn't need to know more about her than they already did. Gratu stood in front of the cell showing his missing teeth in a smile. In each of his hands he held a tray, one with cups of water and the other with some bowls of gruel. Bending down, he slid the two trays into the cell. "Dinner's served."

Lucy's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "And how're we supposed to eat with our hands chained behind our back?"

Gratu laughed and pointed to the cell directly across from their own. There, Somb slid two trays identical to their own inside as the people jumped into action. They lunged for the food and water, fighting for more than their share as they began to bite and brawl amongst themselves like animals, even though there was enough for everyone. Lucy could make out the man with the sunken eyes who had been sitting next to her on the ship. Gasping, her heart sank.

_These people are being driven to the edge of their sanity._

"Everyone else seems to be doing just fine. Unless that is," he winked, "you need some special assistance."

She groaned. "I'll manage just fine. You can leave now."

His mood did not falter from her hostility. "You've got a good chance of making it till the end, blondie. If I were you i'd try and survive until then by eating whatever we give you!" Laughing again, he placed his hands on his hips and returned back down the hallway to continue serving food.

Touya scooted closer to Lucy as she looked to the couple again for answers. "What did he mean 'till the end?'"

Jahviorn laughed. "You keep asking me as if I understand everything about what is happening."

"Well to be honest," Lucy questioned, "You two seem to be awfully calm about being kidnapped and sold into a life of slavery."

Mareeli and her husband exchanged a loving glance before turning back to her. "We discussed it aboard the ship. Our children are grown and have been raised well, they will make it without us. Unlike most, we have each other and have lived out the majority of our lives. We can only hope that we will remain together through this."

"That's beautiful." Lucy gave a soft smile. "But you shouldn't give up. We'll get out of here."

However at that point, she wasn't really sure who she was trying to reassure. Jahviorn, Mareeli, Touya, or herself?

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**Blahhhh motivation levels at minimum, exhaustion levels at maximum. I really don't like how this chapter turned out, but honestly I don't want to waste anymore time on it. It's been far too long since i've updated and hopefully we can just keep moving forward. **


	13. Holding Out For A Hero

**AHH I APOLOGIZE! So with the move it's been that I didn't get internet until today AND since my mom had surgery I have to do everything for her, so by the time I get alone time to do anything it's like 10 pm and i'm so exhausted I can't write. But I managed this out thanks to FairyTailSnowFairy on tumblr (idk your fanfic name, sorry!) and her kind messages. I apologize it's shorter than what my normal is, but I really am just swamped. Anyways, thanks for reading!**

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A week and four days inched by in the cold cell, Lucy only aware of this because Touya's etches into the wall the a cliché prison movie. Jahviorn had encouraged her because he said it would help keep their minds from fading into madness like those around them. Since they had been in the back on the line the day they had entered the prison, their cell was located in an area not obviously too far from the front door allowing them to see just how many people went mad and had to be carried away.

Inquiring upon this, a guard merely replied to Lucy, "Mentally unstable slaves are dangerous, no one will buy them."

But no matter how many people seemed to be carried away, the screams seemed never ending. They began early morning and ended late at night, ranging in all different pitches and ages, but all were filled with the sound of excruciating pain. The few hours of "silence" as they called it, Lucy was too hungry and cold to sleep. They were provided one meal of gruel a day, along with a tray full of cups filled with water. A guard would slide it in and time their meal, demanding utensils be returned, finished or not, so that any hope of using them to make a weapon would be diminished. It was difficult with their hands bound behind their back, but they had no other options. Touya would help them if she finished early, her hands free of chains since she was obviously not seen as a threat.

Lucy's own shackles were a different story. She still had her boots on so her ankles were spared, but one of her wrists had been rubbed raw. The wristband that Levy had given her for translating was thankfully still on, and provided at least one wrist with protection.

On the "bright side" of all this, the four cellmates had gotten to know each other pretty well, and their presence made the situation more bearable. Mareeli and Jahviorn had wonderful senses of humor and were very interested in hearing about her times with Fairy Tail and how she was from another world. Lucy gave up on trying to convince them that Touya was not her daughter as well. It was at least nice to pretend she had some family there, at least just for a while. However even she couldn't deny that they did look strikingly similar, and Lucy found she was a quiet child, just like she had been when she was a kid.

Their secluded time together came to an end when Gratu and Somb appeared in front of their cell one day, both wearing vindictive smiles as Somb unlocked the door with his left hand, his right firmly graspin a whip. "All right! Get up and moving!"

Striding over to where Lucy was sitting on the floor, Gratu linked his arms with hers, pushing her onto her feet. "Where are you taking us?"

The bulky man's mustache twitched in amusement. "Now, now, Blondie. Wouldn't want to ruin the fun." Jahviorn and Mareeli ushered themselves out of the cave as Lucy firmly stood her ground and waited for Touya to go ahead of her in their single file line. Somb lead in front as Gratu took up the rear. Being navigated through the narrow halls, she was able to see the conditions of the other soon to be slaves in their cells and their downtrodden conditions. Most cells contained four people like their own, except no one else chatted as the four of them did. Instead everyone seemed to be sunken into themselves, trying to escape reality. Then again, how could you blame them?

After being herded clear across the entire prison, chains rattling against the cold stone floor, they ascended a final flight of stairs and were abruptly stopped in front of four office-like rooms. Somb's fingers tapped the end of the whip. "No need to get riled up now, you're all just gonna choose a room to step into here. Just some... paperwork to fill out."

Lucy eyed the whip cautiously. _There's no paperwork to slavery._

Mareeli and Jahviorn exchanged a loving glance before nodding and heading into separate rooms, accepting their fate and wisely avoiding extra pain. Touya looked up to Lucy, looking for direction. Her mouth felt dry as she tried to think through the situation. "I think I should stay with her. She won't be any trouble, I-I promise."

"It's not her we're worried about," Gratu whispered. "It's you." Lucy let out a grunt of pain as he pulled her hair, taking her by surprise and ripping her away from Touya. Trying to regain her footing he directed her into one of the rooms, leaving the door wide open as he pushed her into a chair in the center of the room. Gratu stood behind her, hands firmly gripping her shoulders to keep her seated.

Like the rest of the prison, it too entirely consisted of gray stone for floors and walls, but was obviously not meant to be a cell for it's spacious area, large window, and a fireplace currently in use. Beneath the window was a wooden desk that matched the door, and behind it, a man filling out actual paperwork. He did not look up because of Lucy's racket, only to tap the ashes from his cigarette into an ash tray.

Lucy gasped. The cowboy from the day she had fainted smiled at her, standing from his chair. "Why daffodil, what a pleasant surprise." He tipped his hat towards her and came to lean on the front of the desk.

Scoffing, Lucy fidgeted in the chair. "You'll have to excuse me if I don't find slavery pleasant."

"I agree. Pretty faces like yours aren't meant for this life. But, there are still ways to change that." He winked.

A shiver went down her spine. "Over my dead body."

"Another beauty lost. Oh well." The cowboy sighed, standing up and grabbing a clip board and quill.

Lucy's hair stood on end as a familiar scream suddenly rang out, her head snapping towards the door instinctively. Her eyes searched the hallway for any movement.

"Gratu, stand her up please." The cowboy asked, his spurs clacking against the stone as he walked over towards the two.

"Yes Mr. Holmez." Jerking her head back towards the cowboy, Gratu pushed her onto her feet again, his grip only now consisting of one hand around her forearm behind her back.

Holmez began to circle her slowly, inspecting her as he jotted things down onto his clip board. He mumbled a few things aloud, but was obviously writing much more. "Healthy... About 100 pounds... Somewhat snappy... Looks as if no previous experience in physical labor... I'd say best price would be in Pirem." Another familiar scream rang out, her head snapping to the doorway again. "Has a short attention span... You may sit her down again."

Gratu did as instructed, pulling her back down into the chair, using a little more force than necessary. Holmez placed his clipboard and quill back down on his desk before walking over to the fireplace. He bent down in front of it, prodding the flames with a stick. "Tell me, daffodil. Any regrets? Anywhere you'd wish you gone? Anyone you wished you had said goodbye to?"

Images of home flashed through her mind. Although she was scared and did have regrets, these were the last people she would be sharing that with. "There's nothing to regret. People are coming for me so I don't have to say goodbye."

He stood up straight again, chuckling with the poker in his grasp. "Daffodil, you don't know how many times a day I hear that. Never mind that though, let's get down to the fun part." He turned to face them, giving her a smile as she inspected the poking rod closer. The end of it burned a bright orange, the letter of a fair sized S sizzling on the end. Holmez pulled out a cigarette from behind his ear, using the metal to light it before edging in closer to Lucy.

Her mind began to race with fear. She hadn't quite registered what the idea of branding consisted of before, simply putting it off in her mind. Fairy Tail was supposed to have been here by now.

_Wait! That's it! _She recalled back to Erza's warning in the guild.

"You can't brand me!" Lucy quickly blurted, Holmez lowering the brander slightly.

He pulled the cigarette away from his mouth with his free hand. "And why not?"

Feigning confidence, she puffed up her chest a little. "I'm in a guild, that's why! My mark proves that i'm a mage, not a slave!"

A moment of worry crossed the cowboy's face, his eyebrows furrowing together in thought before his face changed to bellow laughter. "You? A mage? You almost had me there, daffodil." He raised the brander level again, aiming at her upper arm.

"Wait! I'm telling the truth!" She yelled, desperate now. "It's on my right hand!"

Gratu and Holmez exchanged a look as the cowboy lowered the brander once again. "Unchain her hands." The bulky man did as instructed, the chains falling to the floor. Lucy brought her hands in front of her, arms stiff from being restrained for so long. She rubbed her raw wrist instinctively before Holmez snatched her right hand to inspect it. Gritting his teeth, he twist and turned it beneath his glare, obviously displeased. "Well, that won't do at all now, will it?"

"Do we let her go?" Gratu inquired. "We're not supposed to sell guilded mages."

Taking a drag of his cigarette, Holmez pondered for a moment, letting another familiar scream fill the air. Lucy's head snapped towards the door, absentmindedly standing up before being shoved back into the chair. "Touya!"

"That's why we'll just have to fix that." He placed the cigarette back in his mouth, raising the brander once again. "No one has ever escaped from our trade, and some half-wit flower is about to be the first."

Lucy began to struggle as Touya's cries continued to fill the air. Mareeli's and Jahviorn's she could bear, but the little girl's sparked a panic inside her. "Touya!"

"Hold her hand _still_, Gratu!"

Her attention was drawn back to herself, Lucy now aware of her immediate danger. They were about to brand over her Fairy Tail mark, not just taking away her proof as a guilded mage, but also officially making her a slave. After this, there was little hope. "Help!" She gave her thrashing more effort now, feeling the heat inch closer to her skin. "Help! Natsu! NATSU!"

Holmez pressed hard against the back of her hand, the burn making Lucy instantly scream out in pain. Her eyes squeezed shut as her body froze up, unable to move away. The cowboy released the metal, a burning smell filling the room. "That is all, Gratu. Take her back to her cell now." Walking back to the fireplace, he set the brander down to reheat again and returned to his desk.

"Yes, Mr. Holmez." The mustached man lifted her onto her feet again, Lucy able now to open her eyes but not dare look at her hand. Chaining them in front of her this time, Gratu then placed one hand on her shoulder and one on her back to direct her out of the room and back to her cell. It was open with Somb watching guard. Touya, Mareeli, and Jahviorn were back in the cell, sitting quietly with their knees to their chests. Lucy stumbled into the cell and did the same, wanting to curl into herself just like everyone else in the prison she had passed. Somb and Gratu began to chat as they locked their cell door, exchanging stories of people's different reactions to branding as they walked off.

Lucy looked over to Touya. Tears were streaming down her face again as she sobbed openly, her eyes covered by her hands. There on her upper arm was the large S, also now located on Jahviorn and Mareeli. Scooting closer to her to comfort them both, Touya buried her head in Lucy's lap and let her sobbing continue.

Figuring now was as good of a time as any, Lucy raised her chained hands in front of her to examine her own brand. The S was large and took up most of the back of her hand, and red, burned skin was slowly turning pink. Barely any of her guild mark showed anymore, and what was left blended in with the new burn. Her heart shattered as she felt Fairy Tail grow further away now, even though she had felt close just hours before. Realities set in for her once again. She was in a foreign world. She had a family that didn't want her. She had no magical ability to defend herself. She was now a slave. She had no idea if those she cared about in this world were even coming for her.

Bringing her wounded hand close to her chest, she curled up around Touya, feeling miserable but never letting a single tear fall.


	14. Runaway

**AHHH! Wow finally a chapter that is decently sized! Thank you everyone who sent kind and supportive messages! So hopefully since this one is average sized it will make up for the fact I haven't really been on my game lately, plus my family is going on vacation to Hawaii next week, so that means I won't be writing that whole time!** **But happy 4th of July, right fellow Americans? And those of you who aren't American, I hope you have a great day! Anyways, thanks for reading!**

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One month. One whole month. Had it really been a month since her Fairy Tail symbol had been covered by this new awful scar? They had been on the road for a few weeks now, so it was hard to tell by just adding it up every morning. The night air seemed to be sucking the life right out of Lucy, a simple rag for clothing not doing much to provide any warmth. Staying close to Touya helped, but the small girl only had so much extra body heat to offer.

They had waited another week in the "prison" to get these rags and discard their original clothing, a similar process to the branding taking place. They were collected, escorted, striped down, and then someone handed them their new attire. Lucy had encountered some problems during this with her wristband, pleading about it's translating abilities and how no one wants to buy a slave that doesn't follow directions. After testing it a few times and checking to make sure she was telling the truth, she was able to keep it.

The new clothing was just a single piece of cloth, really more like a pillow case with holes cut in it. Everyone's seemed to be different, ranging from color, length, and condition. Lucy's was tan and reached down to her mid thigh, and seemed to be in pretty good condition still. During the rides she listened to some of the theories of others and how these were probably removed from other slaves when they died. Lucy could only assume the person wearing the cloth before her must have not lasted very long.

They were barefoot as well now, which made the idea of running away that much harder. They had traveled enough for Lucy to become aware the entire country seemed surrounded by mountains, and if she was taking Touya there was no way they'd make it back to Fiore in their current condition.

Lucy adjusted her back against the bar of the wagon. She felt like a circus animal since the walls were just iron bars, and people would laugh and stare whenever they rolled into a new town. The slave caravan traveled all night, every night from town to town. When the sun rose the cowboy would come around, read down his clipboard and select the people he thought they would make the most profit out of. Each time he passed he would pause and stare at Lucy, making her unsure if he was calculating like the others or just enjoyed creeping her out.

Jahviorn and Mareeli had been sold off together on the third day of traveling, which made Lucy happy that they would remain together, but also made her feel alone. While Touya was at least another person she could interact with comfortably, young children aren't ideal for conversation. The idea that anyone she spoke to also could be sold away the next day was discouraging.

They were pulling into another town now, houses becoming more and more frequent indicating they were close. They must have been slightly behind schedule because Lucy could see the morning light behind the far off mountains, which no matter how far they seemed to travel seemed to still be a lifetime away.

_Well, another night without sleep I guess._ Lucy thought to herself, turning to see where they had parked in the town. It was towards the edge of a town square, four wagons end to end next to a building, an alleyway going off behind the furthest wagon from her. The driver of her own wagon jumped down from the reigns and stretched a bit before hustling off to receive orders from someone. Lucy was about to turn back to Touya before a familiar purple carriage caught her eye.

Six black horses cantered into the town square, doing a circle around before parking along the opposite side. Lucy quickly nudged Touya off and stood up, stepping over other slaves to get a better look. A driver hopped down from up front to open the side door, a familiar person emerging. Lucy gasped as the pinstriped man ran stepped onto the cobblestone streets, running a hand over his buzzed, black hair before taking a look around. She immediately regretted trying to get a better look as his eyes locked with hers, a smile creeping across his face. Holding her gaze, she waited for him to break the eye contact, only to see he had waved off whatever his driver was saying to make his way over to her.

Should she be brave and defiant? Or kind and forgiving? She had always been good at holding grudges, but knew when it was time to let go. It was no coincidence he was here. Since the cowboy was involved, she should have known he was too.

Directly in front of her now, only ten feet and a pair of iron bars separated them. "Do not fret, beautiful. It seems humanity has a habit of keeping our rarest and most beloved treasures behind bars so no one else will steal them away."

Lucy's grip tightened on the bars. "What is your role among the slave trade? Why are you here?"

He sighed, obviously expecting this reaction from her. "Why my dear, if you really _must _know, then I'll be happy to let you know I run this whole organization. Zhetir's companion service runs from the sea to the mountains, all the way across Bosco. One of the largest companies in the service around."  
"Zhetir...?" She eyed him scrutinously, questions racing in her mind.

"Have we not been formally introduced? I am Zhetir, businessman and entrepreneur." He gave a slight bow, Lucy finding this odd considering she was now a slave to his company. " And you, madam?"

"Lucy." She decided to inquire on one of the questions that bad been bugging her for a quite a while now. "What type of magic did you use on me the first time we met?"

His bright blue eyes lit up with excitement. "My dear that would be my explosion magic! When combined with fire it has quite the punch, which you must obviously remember. Ah! Speaking of magic!" His white gloved hand rummaged in his pocket a bit, before pulling out her set of keys. "You seem to have added a few to your collection! Well done!"

She gasped, eyes narrowing. "Give those back!"

"Oh definitely not. These will fetch quite the price tomorrow in the next town over. Maybe I'll even let you watch?" He laughed and turned away from her, a fire boiling inside Lucy.

"People are coming for me you know!" Her grasp tightened around the bars that separated them.

Not bothering to look at her, he called over his shoulder. "As the saying goes, 'If I had a nickel..."

"You won't be so cocky when I get out of here!" She roared, slamming her fists against the iron, her chains clanking against them. Holding her gaze, she watched him stroll across the square and back to his carriage, taking her keys out of his pocket and hanging them on the inside of the door. Removing his jacket from another hook, he straightened out the collar a bit before quickly glancing at her and shutting the door. Turning his head away from her once again, he walked out of her line of sight.

Cursing under her breath,Lucy leaned her head against the bars, closing her eyes. Natsu _was _coming for her, right? When she yelled that, was she really trying to convince Zhetir? Or just convince herself? How did she know they were actually on their way, looking for her? No one had ever looked for her in her whole life, why would people start now? She hadn't even known them for that long. They could be happy she was gone. An easy fix one might say.

_If I was them I wouldn't come for me._

The scraggly driver had made his way back now, holding a list in hand as he stepped up to unlock the cage. Just the same as everyday he would call out the people to be sold for the day and they would never be heard from again. He began to lazily read off the list as people stood up to gather outside of the wagon.

Lucy shook her head to herself. _No! I can't think like that! They're coming for me! But if they can't find me, _an idea flickered in her brain, I'll_ just have to send a snare signal out to them._

"I'm looking for a blonde, 150 pounds, healthy, average height?" The slim wagon driver called out to the group, biting his nails in frustration. "Oh for heaven's sake I don't know why they haven't figured out an easier system by now."

Turning to the group, Lucy's scanned for a girl fitting the criteria until her eyes spotted another blonde. She was sitting with her knees to her chest, crying silently and shaking, paralyzed in fear.

"Hello? Are you lot even listening?" He called out again in annoyance.

Lucy glanced between the driver and the shaking girl, their eyes locking for a moment before answering. "Coming."

"Well hurry up we haven't got all day!"

The crying girl's grip around her knees loosened as Lucy made her way towards the one exit at the back of the wagon, confused but remaining silent as her place was filled. Stepping down onto the dirt street the driver eyed her before looking back at his list.

"You don't look 150 pounds."

"Boobs are heavier than they look." She calmly replied.

He blushed, obviously not trying to stare at her breasts to check again. Instead he went back to his list, Lucy laughing to herself internally.

Beginning to bite his nails again, he glared back at her. "It also says you don't speak Fioran very well. Seems like _you _understand it just fine."

"Excuse me for not wanting to communicate with evil men." Her foster child days had made her excellent at lying on the spot.

He waved her off, tired of the conversation. "Whatever, go stand with the others."

Doing as instructed, Lucy made her way to the back of the group as he read off another listing for another young boy. She watched him carefully and began to edge herself further and further away, making the final leap to behind another wagon when she made sure he was fully distracted. Crouching down, she crawled under the wagon as quietly as possible, cursing the extra sounds her chains made. Going further, she lowered herself onto her stomach and rolled beneath the driver's area, where people would only be able to see her if they laid on their stomach's as well.

From here she was able to see the feet of those around her, registering in her mind whose feet belonged to who. Slaves were easy since they were barefoot and had chains, so Lucy just knew to watch out for anyone wearing shoes. Turning to the group she had just escaped from, some of her nerves settled as they walked away to the platform being roughly built in the middle of the square. As awful as she felt for using the selling and buying of humans for a distraction, Lucy couldn't think of any other options at the moment.

After about an hour of patient waiting, the rest of the slaves had been taken to the area behind the platform to wait their turn to be auctioned off, and Lucy crawled out from under her drivers area to underneath the actual wagon. The rest of her plan would have to be done as quickly but silently as possible. Sometimes auctions could go quite quickly, sometimes they would be over in a flash. Luckily there was a fair sized crowd today, and competition prolongs each slaves time on the platform.

making her way to the edge of beneath the wagon, Lucy eyed the man who stood about 20 feet away from her, his focus currently on the auction. Taking a deep breath she rolled out from beneath one wagon, took a few quick steps, and rolled underneath the next one.

Barely hidden behind one of the wheels, the man turned instinctively to the noise of rattling chains, his eyes scanning the area. Not daring to move an inch, Lucy silently prayed to herself. Being caught meant waiting for a rescue team she wasn't even sure was coming. The man's eyes went to the wagon she had just been underneath, as he dismissed the thought from his mind and turned back to the auction.

Not wasting any time to collect herself, Lucy repeated the process of crawling towards the edge of this wagon, eyeing the guard a bit. This time there were two of them, laughing merrily, neither watching the auction nor the slaves. She rolled once again, neither of them picking up on her presence.

Now she was just faced with a choice. She could backdoor it out of here through the alleyway, or try to stick to the outskirts of the town square. She would have a better chance of making it out if she used the alleyway and be permanently on the run, but then she would be leaving Touya.

And leaving Touya to fend for herself was something she just couldn't do.

Surveying her surroundings, Lucy looked for the most efficient way across the square. Blend in with a group of people? No. Move from bench to bench? No again. Lucy's eyes lit up at the miracle rounding her way. Jump into a straw cart? This she could do.

It was moving a little slow for her liking, but this was probably the best she could have done under circumstances anyways. Just as before she made her way to the back of this wagon, not pleased with the large, muscular man to be guarding this area. The cart holding a pile of straw rounded it's way past the building the other wagons were parked next to, Lucy trying to keep her breathing steady from her nerves. She would only have one shot of jumping on board, and a lot of it relied on luck that no one would be looking her way.

Focusing, she began to calculate the precise moment to dash out to the cart. It would come right behind the guard, meaning that if he were to turn around she would be only about five feet from him.

Three.

Two.

One.

Dashing out, Lucy adjusted to the speed of the cart and used all of her strength to hurtle herself over the side, using her knee to automatically cover herself with straw. She was on her stomach, facing the open end of the cart, her face still out in the open. Instantly the large guard snapped around, his eyes scanning the wagon of slaves. As her cart drifted further away, his scan lengthening to the sides of the carriage. Still displeased, he looked to his left, grunting at the sight of the other guards. If he looked left she was done for. But she had made it so far! Sighing internally, Lucy waited for the alarm to raise.

"Yo, ho, haul together! Hoist the colors high!"

_What?_

Both the guard and Lucy turned to the wagon of slaves, surprised to see one man standing, singing at the top of his lungs.

The guard's eyes narrowed down on the man. "You there! Sit down and shut up!"

"Heave, ho, thieves and beggars! Never shall we die!" He continued to bellow, his tone angry and determined.

No longer searching for the source of the original noise, the guard unlatched his whip from his side, striding over to the singing man. The blonde's eyes widened. The man had obviously seen her and knew the guard would catch her. He had created a distraction, thus saving her.

His whip cracked, the singing man now letting out a scream of pain. Lucy's eyes brimmed with tears.

_No, no. This isn't the time. You've got to remain focused._

The cart drifted further from the last slave wagon, Lucy processing where she assumed she was. Nearly there... Nearly there...

A shadow cast over the straw cart, Lucy immediately rolling out from under the straw onto the ground, landing on her side with a loud thump.

Biting her lip in pain she collected herself and positioned herself into a crouch, facing left to the luxurious purple wagon. Jiggling the handle a bit, she gave it a small pull, smiling as it opened with ease. Opening it just enough for her to squeeze through, she rushed inside.

Of course she would have loved to take a moment to take in that this was the exact carriage she had been blown out of, but there was no time for that. Sliding across the seat, Lucy seized her hanging keys from the opposite door, relishing their familiar, cool touch in her hand.

"Open: Gate of the lion! Leo!" She whispered, turning the golden key in the air.

A familiar golden flash appeared, followed instantly by a pair of arms being thrown around her.

"Lucy! Oh my gosh what happened to you!?" Loke yelled, his hands on her shoulders as he stared at her condition.

Immediately she clamped a hand across his mouth. "Keep your voice down! Look, we don't have much time. No doubt they saw that flash of light and will be in here any moment."

"Who they? What's going on?" He asked, pulling her hand away, his jaw dropping at the sight of her chains.

"Slave trade. We're in Bosco. I need you to take my keys and find Natsu, Erza, and Gray. I will only be able to keep you out for so long, so I need you to hurry." Pulling his hand to her lap she placed her keys in his palm, closing his fingers back over them.

His eyebrows furrowed in anger. "You expect me to leave you like this? No chance. We can fight! We can get away!

"Loke, please keep your voice down!" She whispered back in exasperation. "There's someone back in the wagon I need to protect, and you'll never be able to fight them all off on your own with my amount of magic. This is the only way." His gaze dropped to his hands, clenching the keys tightly now. "We're heading towards the mountains. Loke, I'll keep the gate open for as long-"

Surprising them both, the door that led to the square flung open, Zhetir's gaze staring them down. His hand flew to grab her hair, yanking her halfway out the carriage.

"GO!" She screamed, Loke fleeing out the other door and wasting no time taking off.

Zhetir pulled once again, Lucy falling completely out of the carriage now, onto the cobblestone street. "You idiots! Get him!" He yelled, guards now pursuing Loke. He turned towards Lucy, feeling smug. "And you! Did you really think you'd get away that easily?"

She smiled. "It wasn't about me getting away. What got away was much more valuable." His half smile vanished as he scanned the inside of the door, anger settling in. "Whip me! I don't care!"

"Sir." Zhetir turned to a sweaty guard who was obviously out of breath. "I'm sorry to report the man got away."

Throwing her to the ground, the black haired man collected himself, fixing the collar of his jacket. "No, Lucy. Obviously you _don't_ mind being hurt. But," He turned to face the carriage she had been riding in. "Since your looks shall fetch you a higher price, we'll just have to find another way to hurt you."

"Excuse me?" She sat up, confusion present on her face.

"Bring out the small, blonde child from Lucy's wagon."

"No. No! You can't! She's just a child!" She begged, crawling closer to Zhetir.

His gaze was focused on his gloves though, inspecting them for any sign of dirt. "Not even worth the effort of whipping really." He turned to the sweaty guard, who was still standing at attention. " If you would be so kind and make sure she's up for sale next." The sweaty guard ran off, Zhetir looking up again towards the large guard who had been distracted by the singing man. "You there! Ah, yes. If you would be so kind as to escort Lucy here to a better seat? I do think she is quite interested in the next slave."

She struggled to her feet. "Now you listen here-!" Zhetir snapped, a small explosion going off in front of Lucy, knocking the wind out of her. Doubling over, she gasped for air, barely getting in a breath before the large guard flung her over his shoulder, only to dump her in front of the platform.

A well dressed man stood upon it with Touya, a smile on his face. "Ah, a younger girl now, such a pretty young one! You know what they say, get 'em while they're young! That way they aren't rebellious like the older ones!" He circled Touya, examining her like a piece of livestock. "Pretty blonde thing, should grow up to be quite the beauty! In fact I think her mother's down front, so look at those beautiful genes! Let's start the bidding at 1,000,000 Jewels, shall we?"

"No! Please!" Lucy called out, not caring if another explosion hit her.

"Do I hear 1,000,000 Jewels? Ah yes! The lady in the back!"

Touya stood upon the platform frozen in fear, her small blonde body shaking.

"Can I get a 1,500,000? Excellent! Do I hear 2,000,000?"

Zhetir stood calmly next to Lucy, her face now streaming with tears. "Please!"

"3,000,000?! Excellent! 4,000,000?! 5,000,000?!" The prices continued to rise as two women were now interlocked in a bidding war.

"Going once!"

It was her fault. Touya was being punished for her selfish needs. The large guard was now holding her back from climbing up on the platform.

"Going twice!"

If she had just stayed in the wagon, they might have been sold together. Touya would grow up a slave without a family, and now not even Lucy could look after her.

"Sold! To the woman in the back with the feathered hat for 9,000,000 Jewels!"

"No! TOUYA!" She screamed, struggling to run to the young girl. Touya's eyes found hers, Lucy able to see how deep her fear ran. The small blonde reached a hand out for her, before being picked up and dragged away.

Zhetir ran one hand over his buzzed black hair, eyes examining the next slave up for auction. "You see, Lucy. Your keys may be gone, but you're spirit is still here for breaking."

Lucy fell to her knees, sobbing defeatedly.

* * *

**I'd be lying if I said I wasn't making myself sad with this. Anyways, I'll try and update again as soon as possible, but that will still be in at least two weeks probably! Thanks for reading and please tell me what you thought!**


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